{"id":211732,"date":"2025-12-02T17:37:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T17:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/211732\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T17:37:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T17:37:09","slug":"neighbours-appeal-us-billionaires-renovation-plans-of-e4-75m-kinsale-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/211732\/","title":{"rendered":"Neighbours appeal US billionaire&#8217;s renovation plans of \u20ac4.75m Kinsale home"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A house bought by a US billionaire outside Kinsale, who previously promised to build an animal sanctuary on the grounds, has had his planning approval appealed to An Coimisi\u00fan Plean\u00e1la.<\/p>\n<p>Family heir to a US fortune, James Berwind bought Sprayfield House in Sandycove in 2023 for \u20ac4.75m, which has since been largely demolished to make way for an extensive reconstruction as a home and farm.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">In October, Cork County Council approved plans lodged by R\u00edoght na nAinmhithe LLC to begin that process, with permission granted to construct a new main dwelling and develop on-site renewable energy infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The plans also included the removal of existing tennis courts, a new detached building consisting of storage and gallery space, a gym and leisure facilities including a lap pool, as well as a new padel and tennis court at roof level.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The development will also include 14 ground-mounted arrays, each with 18 photovoltaic panels, 12 mini turbines standing 1.25m high, a temporary vehicle access route to aid construction, on-site landscaping and all associated works.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/4881939_9_articleinlinemobile_1_1_1_.jpg\" alt=\"James Berwind bought Sprayfield House in Sandycove in 2023 for \u20ac4.75m\" title=\"James Berwind bought Sprayfield House in Sandycove in 2023 for \u20ac4.75m\" class=\"card-img\"\/>James Berwind bought Sprayfield House in Sandycove in 2023 for \u20ac4.75m<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The plans were approved by the local authority despite more than a dozen objections from residents, who said the project would amount to overdevelopment and create a \u201cserious, irreversible impact on the visual lay of the landscape within the wider countryside.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Another objector said the rural character and tranquillity of the area would \u201cbe irreparably harmed, diminishing its appeal and the quality of life for existing residents.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The development was appealed by five parties to the planning commission, one of whom previously argued that the works would set an \u201cundesirable precedent\u201d for other similar developments.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Another objector stated that the &#8220;sheer scale of the huge development&#8221; threatened to &#8220;significantly harm the area&#8217;s character and environment.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">An Coimisi\u00fan Plean\u00e1la is due to decide on the case by April 7, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A house bought by a US billionaire outside Kinsale, who previously promised to build an animal sanctuary on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211733,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[9521,79,9520,18,19,17,3525],"class_list":{"0":"post-211732","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-building","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-construction-munster","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-planning-permission"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115651192383179198","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}