HOTEL MEETING CANCELLED
In a surprise move this week a meeting on a new hotel proposal for Fermoy scheduled to take place between town councillors and Lawton Developments was cancelled. The Lawton Development Group had last month contacted each councillor in Fermoy and invited them to attend a confidential meeting about bringing back to the table the proposal for building a hotel on the site of Fermoy House. The meeting was scheduled to take place on Wednesday, May 7.
In the meantime, however, in appears that disagreements over the venue for the event prompted a particular group on Fermoy Town Council to submit a letter to the developers asking them to consider a change of venue and date. The Avondhu understands that the developers have honoured the request agreeing on Tuesday, May 20 as the new date. The venue for the meeting has also been changed; it will now take place at Fermoy Town Hall.
Cllr. Michael Hanley expressed himself as being ‘quite aggrieved’ that the decision to cancel the original meeting and request for a change of venue was made by a select number of councillors without consulting the others. It is reliably understood that a group, numbering only five councillors, were consulted about the decision to call off the Wednesday, May 7, meeting.
The disagreement seems to have centered on Fermoy House as the venue for the meeting, which was considered inappropriate by the councillors concerned.. When contacted by The Avondhu in relation to the matter, Tim Lawton of Lawton Developments did not wish to comment.
Building a new hotel in Fermoy was at the forefront of the local public consciousness back in 2005, when a proposal was put through by the Lawton Development to construct a 100-room hotel and 73 houses on the 14-acre site of Fermoy House. After heated debates on the topic, An Board Pleanala rejected the proposal and it lay dormant for the past two years.
The issue now seems set to divide public opinion in Fermoy once more.
Published:
Thursday 8th May 7:14pm
