Owners of historic house near Offaly town seek to build huge 'wedding village' venue

Plans have been submitted to Kildare County Council for the construction of a new 'wedding village' and venue on the site of a famous manor house near Edenderry in Co Offaly.

The permission is being sought by Ballindoolin House Limited for development at the house, which is a protected structure, with Kildare County Council now set to survey the particulars.

The application is for "the construction of a wedding village consisting of 30 single-storey detached pod style accommodation rooms for wedding guests as well as the construction of two single-storey detached pod style “getting ready rooms” (his and hers)."

The company is also seeking the "seasonal erection of an off-site prefabricated marquee style structure to be used as a wedding venue destination adjacent to the existing commercial element of Ballindoolin house, connection to existing secondary effluent treatment system on site and all associated site works."

The application notes that Ballindoolin House is a protected structure as per the Kildare county development plan 2023-2029.

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The plans were submitted on February 6 but it has been deemed an 'incomplete application' by council planners. 

In a letter to the applicants, the council pointed out the reasons why the application was deemed invalid and will have to be resubmitted.

Among the reasons given were the fact the details of directors of the company were not included on the application form; details of the proposed on-site treatment system and evidence as to the suitability of the site for the system proposed were not submitted; an access road from car park to venue was not included in description of development in newspaper or site notice; the applicant has not submitted photographs, plans and other particulars as are necessary to show how the development would affect the character of the protected structure; no application fee was paid.

The council instructed that the existing site notice be removed and plans resubmitted.