Nearly 40 residents of Knockranny and Buckwaria agreed at a meeting on Wednesday to submit a joint objection based on six key observations to the planning application for an 86-bedroom nursing home at Colonel's Wood, Westport.
Many individuals said that they would also be submitting personal objections to the large scale development which they said will see the deforestation of five acres of the Coillte owned wood.
The residents are seeking an urgent meeting with the Town Councillors to outline their concerns and to underline the importance of maintaining the area as a unique in-town woodland area which can be enjoyed by the entire community of Westport.
The Knockranny objection observes that the road into the proposed development is completely inadequate for the volume of traffic which can be expected with a nursing home that will be three times the size of The McBride Home. The residents also say that the construction would put an excessive burden on already over-stretched services such as sewerage and water.
“The planning application does not deal with these basic infrastructural deficiencies in any substantive way,” said Mary Carr, who chaired the special meeting.
She also said that the proposal would damage the natural environment of the town and would have an immediate negative impact on the flora and fauna, birds and wildlife of the wood.
