Bellharbour
Bellharbour Location and Context The Wild Atlantic Way, as it runs along the northern coast of County Clare, passes through Bellharbour. The village is situated on an inlet off Ballyvaughan Bay and a small quay serving the settlement is located at the water’s edge. Bellharbour is located on the main N67, a designated Scenic Route, between Ballyvaughan and the County Galway border. There are many visitor attractions in the area including The Flaggy Shore, the historic Mount Vernon house, with a variety of restaurants, public houses, artisan food producers and yoga centres nearby. The Burren Outdoor Education Centre is situated south of the Village. Bellharbour is a small village and its harbour-side location makes it an attractive visitor destination, with a number of holiday home developments within short walking distance of the harbour. However, the sensitivity of its location needs to be considered carefully when assessing development proposals. The strategy for Bellharbour is to encourage small-scale incremental residential growth that will be reflective of the rural nature of the settlement, while also encouraging the reuse of vacant or derelict sites and properties within the Village. Also, proposals for any suitablyscaled and appropriate commercial or employment-generating development will be encouraged. The Village has a permanent resident population and provision should be made to encourage its future growth. The village is served by Turlough Public Water Supply which has sufficient capacity to serve projected population growth. Bellharbour has no public wastewater treatment scheme, and any development proposals must be served by private waste water treatment systems which are in compliance with the EPA Code of Practice for Waste Water Treatment Systems and must be strictly adhered to in order to ensure no significant long term effects on the surrounding European sites. The village lies on Pouldoody Bay which is designated as both a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) (Galway Bay Complex SAC) and a Special Protection Area (SPA) (Inner Galway Bay SPA). In addition, Moneen Mountain SAC and the East Burren Complex SAC lie in close proximity surrounding the village. Future development must ensure there are no significant effects on the conservation objectives or site integrity of the surrounding European sites or any other European site as a result of any future potential development in the Village. Accordingly, objectives set out in Volume 1 of this Plan, relating to European sites and to Appropriate Assessment will apply to any future development proposals in this area. The Natura Impact Report accompanying this Plan (Volume 10a) relevant mitigation measures and recommendations at site and project level.
__________________________________________________________________________________ Draft Clare County Development Plan 2023-2029
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