CLOUGHJORDAN ECO VILLAGE

ECO VILLAGE GETS PLANNING PERMISSION

( Click on title for link to Cloughjordan project)

A few months ago I mentioned a new eco-village in Cloughjordan, Co Tipperary. At the time the group were applying for planning permission to develop a 67-acre farm into a showpiece for sustainable, pollution free living. Well I am pleased to say that this innovative project has been given the go-ahead by planners.
"North Tipperary county council's decision is fantastic and marks the second major milestone in the project's development this week as we have also recently closed the land deal for the farm in Cloughjordan," says Johnny Connolly, chairperson of Sustainable Projects Ireland Ltd. "It has taken many years of hard work, but we've had a lot of support along the way, particularly from Cloughjordan residents, and we are hopeful that there won't be any appeals against our plans. We are also confident that the decision and land purchase will boost interest among people looking for a superb quality of life and environmentally-sound homes. Even before the good news we have over forty members who have invested in sites, so we are expecting many visitors to our office on Cloughjordan’s main street and to our website.”

“This decision is of national importance for two reasons. Firstly it’ll change the way planners look at expanding villages and small towns from now on,” said Brian O’Brien of Solearth, eco-architects for the project. “Secondly it marks a major step forward in terms of sustainable settlement design and will finally bring us up to where countries like Denmark and the Netherlands are.”

The local authority are happy with the scale and density of the project, which is critical to the community’s overall design, with just under a third of the 67-acres being used for building, a third for residents’ allotments, and the final 20 acres for woodland and wildlife. The development, which is quite unlike any other in Ireland, includes the provision of 132 fully serviced sites suitable for a variety of housing, including apartments, terraced, semi-detached and detached. Members who buy sites will also co-own multi-use community buildings, private allotments and over fifty acres of land that’s zoned for horticultural and woodland use. Homes will be built to a very high eco-standard according to the company’s ecological charter.

Environmental.