Naas hotel expansion plans 'inappropriate'
The venerable Maudlin's House Hotel on the Dublin Road in Naas.
PLANS to expand a Naas hotel with 70 rooms over six storeys have been refused by Kildare County Council.
A firm called Clane Inn Ltd applied in June to extend their Maudlin’s House Hotel on the Dublin Road.
The firms was hoping to build 70 aparthotel rooms over an existing basement car park, although only linked to the existing hotel through this very basement.
The site is on a 0.15Ha (0.4ac) parcel of land 1.9kms north of the town centre, zoned for ‘Leisure and Amenity’, and on the curtilage of the protected structure known as Maudlin’s Farmhouse.
The application promised all deliveries would continue to the existing delivery yard, and that no changes would be made to the frontage of the hotel facing the Dublin Road.
The application was 'permitted in principle', and 'an extension to an existing hotel is generally accepted at this location', however the planners found that the red line boundary on the site layout plan did not incorporate the existing hotel, therefore making the application “invalid”.
Also, the firm made reference to a previous planning application at this site back in 2007, but failed to disclose that this was appealed to An Bord Pleanála and subsequently refused.
For this present application, and a previous one in 2020 to 'incorrectly state that the development was subject to a valid Planning Permission … this is considered disingenuous'.
This was also repeated on the public site notices at the location and 'once again, this is considered disingenuous'.
The planners also found that suggesting this proposed development as 'an extension' to the existing hotel, when the only connection is via the basement car park, therefore the six-storey addition to the site 'will act separately' to the existing hotel.
The planners also didn’t like having the six-storey building connected with an existing protected structure, and it is considered unacceptable'.
They also found that the structure would 'tower over the existing Maudlin’s House Hotel by approximately 10m'.
'This will undoubtedly detract or damage the special character of the Hotel,' which was built as a private residence in 1850.
Also, a building of this height in such a suburban location was deemed to be contrary to the county development plan.
'The proposed layout and design … is considered excessive, overbearing and inappropriate.'
