Trump International Golf Links Ireland Enterprises Limited, which operates the seaside resort at Doonbeg in county Clare, sought permission to build a barrier to protect the golf course from rising sea levels and storm damage. But the county’s Planning Appeals Board denied the permit because of concerns about the wall’s adverse affect on the site’s sand-dune habitat. A planned $43 million project for a new ballroom, leisure facilities and 53 new vacation homes has been on hold pending the decision.
A golf course and hotel owned by President Donald Trump has been refused a planning permit to build a sea wall designed to protect the fairways from coastal erosion by authorities in Ireland, NBC News reported.
Bord Pleanala, the country’s Planning Appeals Board, said in a decision published on March 18th that it was not satisfied that the proposed development at Doonbeg in the western county of Clare would not adversely affect the sand-dune habitat at the site, effectively ending the chances of it being built, NBC News reported.
A planned 40 million euro ($43 million) development comprising a new ballroom, leisure facilities and 53 more vacation homes was on hold pending the board’s ruling, NBC News reported.
Trump International Golf Links Ireland Enterprises Limited, which is owned by President Trump’s family, had initially planned to build a 1.75-mile armour stone wall up to 20 meters (65 feet) wide and 5 meters (16 feet) above the waterline, to protect the course from rising sea levels and storm damage, NBC News reported.
But after a campaign by environmental groups, including Friends of the Irish Environment, raised objections to the proposal, the club’s management revised its plans in December 2016. Permission was then granted in October 2017 by the local county council for revised plans to build two barriers around 625 meters (2,050 feet) and 250 meters (820 feet) in length above the water line at either end of the beach near the course. But that has now been overturned by the planning appeals board, NBC News reported.
The Trump Organization employs about 300 people at the resort—where the president stayed during an official visit to Ireland last year—and is one of the biggest employers in west county Clare, NBC News reported.
The decision denying the permit was called a “momentous victory” by Tony Lowes, a spokesman for Friends of the Irish Environment campaign group. Lowes told NBC News that the decision would protect local ecosystems that had been in place for thousands of years.
“What was most rewarding was that the Appeals Board followed the scientific advice and set a precedent that will help to protect the long-term natural evolution of all of Ireland’s remaining great sand-dune systems against even the most powerful development interests,” Lowes added.
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