A Tipperary pub has been granted permission to retain an “unorthodox but functional” steel-frame extension, which is used for community events including weddings, christenings and funerals.
Mary O’Keeffe applied to Tipperary County Council for planning permission to retain the additional facilities at the Market Stone Public House on the Main Street of Clogheen.
Retention planning permission is sought when works have been carried out without getting prior planning permission.
Ms O’Keeffe has been granted permission to keep the covered link to outdoor seating area, the steel-framed roofed structure for the purpose of additional dining seating and community events, and additional toilet facilities at the bar.
In what was described as an “unusual” application by council planners, Ms O’Keeffe has built a steel-frame structure to the rear of the pub, and provided a covered pathway between the pub and the extension.
The new area is used to provide seating for community events, planning files show, with a letter submitted by the applicant saying that the space is used for christenings, confirmations, communions, family reunions, community fundraising events, small weddings and funerals.
“The form of the steel-framed function room is unorthodox but functional,” planners for the council said.
The application shows that four portable toilets have been installed in the outdoor extension, which the planners said is unsuitable and unsustainable.
“The planning authority is of the opinion that the use of portable type toilets is neither an acceptable nor a sustainable approach to take to waste water management,” the planners’ report said.
In a further information submission, the applicant said that the portable toilets would be removed, and customers would be directed to the toilets in the main bar instead.
Tipperary County Council granted retention planning permission, subject to eight planning conditions, including that Ms O’Keeffe pays the council €5,929 in financial contributions for the connections to water and waste water services.
The council has also stipulated that a chiller unit, which has an exhaust on the roof of the unit, be fitted with equipment to reduce the noise.
They also said that noise from the pub extension can not exceed 55 decibels, and that amplified or live music cannot be played in the extension.
Planners also noted that no signage be installed on the outside of the structure, that surface water run-off not be discharged onto the public road, and that all service cables associated with the development be run underground.
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