A stud operation owned by US billionaire John Malone has expressed concerns over €8 million plans by businessman Barry English to expand the five-star Mount Juliet hotel.
In August, English’s Golden Beam Hospitality Ltd lodged plans with Kilkenny County Council for 19 new guest suites and spa facilities to include 13 treatment rooms including an indoor thermal spa at Mount Juliet estate at Thomastown, Co Kilkenny.
The scheme includes a partial demolition of the existing two-storey extension on the south wing of the Manor House hotel at the resort and the construction of a new two-storey extension.
Planning consultants for Malone’s Ballylinch Stud have told the council that it has concerns over the scheme in relation to impact on protected views.
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Ballylinch Stud describes itself as one of Europe’s leading thoroughbred racehorse breeding operations and is located outside Thomastown.
In the submission on the Mount Juliet expansion plan, architect Barry Lynch said that Ballylinch Stud in particular has concerns in relation to the erosion of designated protected views contrary to the objectives of the Kilkenny Development Plan.
Lynch said two of the protected views “are now compromised and seriously affected by this proposal”.
CCH Architects have made a submission “on behalf of a number of property owners on the Mount Juliet Estate”.
On behalf of the firm, Arthur Hickey said that the Mount Juliet was a beautiful 18th century example of a large estate house.
Hickey that the proposal to extend the house would roughly treble the ground floor of the existing house and “totally detract from the integrity of the existing building”.
Hickey argued that large interventions “will make this large country house into something which it is not”.
In response to the concerns expressed, the council has placed the project on hold.
In a letter requesting revised plans, the council said that while it welcomes the continued growth and tourism development of the Mount Juliet estate, “the applicant is invited to consider a more suitable location for the proposal which could be more successfully integrated into the estate while protecting the characteristics of Manor House”.
