Plans to demolish the historic Kilmacrennan Parochial House have been overturned by Donegal County Council.
An application was lodged with Donegal County Council to raze the 120-year-old former priests’ home adjacent to St Columba’s Church back in April.
A planning notice has been published in relation to the proposed demolition in the name of the then local Parish Priest Fr Paddy Dunne, on behalf of Kilmacrennan Parish.
Plans to demolish the house, which had not been used for many years, were lodged to make way for extra car parking spaces for parishioners.
Neither the parochial house, nor the attached church, are on Donegal County Council’s Record of Protected Structures.
According to the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH), however, the house was in ‘relatively good condition’ when it surveyed it in January 2011.
However, Donegal County Council has refused the application saying the County Development Plan sought to protect historical structures.
” It is the opinion of the Planning Authority that to permit the proposed demolition of this historical structure would result in the premature deletion of significant historic architecture of regional importance,” said a spokesperson.
