Transport Infrastructure Ireland has lodged an appeal against planning permission granted for staff accommodation for a South Kerry golf club.
A and M Hogs Head Golf Club Limited applied to Kerry County Council for planning permission to build staff accommodation at the former Brookhaven Guesthouse.
The council granted permission for the development on the N70 in Waterville, but the TII has now appealed this decision to An Bórd Pleanála.
The proposed development was to include construction of a new single-storey building with 20 en-suite double bedrooms, a communal lounge area, and plant room.
It was also planned to make internal alterations to the former eight-bedroom Brookhaven Guesthouse, and demolish a single-storey utility building.
The plans include the construction of a second, single-storey building with a laundry room and refuse store, as well as a new waste water treatment system and both car and bicycle parking spaces.
Kerry County Council granted permission for the development last month, subject to 10 conditions, including that the development only be used as accommodation for seasonal staff of the Hogs Head Golf Club.
Transport Infrastructure Ireland has now lodged an appeal against this decision to An Bórd Pleanála, claiming the development is at variance with policy for national roads.
The TII says the development, reliant on a direct access to the N70 national secondary road, has the potential to compromise the safety and efficiency of the national road network.
It writes that the TII is strongly of the view that the analysis taken by the applicant of the trips to and from the site, seriously underestimates trips associated with the proposed development.
The TII says this would establish an undesirable precedent for further similar developments in the county and beyond.
It says a grant of permission and the precedent that would set, would endanger public safety by reason of traffic hazard due to the additional traffic, including turning movements, that would be generated onto the 80km/h limit N70, and would interfere with the free-flow of the traffic on the road.
An Bórd Pleanála is due to decide on the appeal by 8th August this year.
