Plans for a female-only treatment centre in Clashmore have been put on hold following a number of objections from local residents nearby.
An appeal has been lodged with An Bord Pleanála after Waterford Council had earlier granted planning permission for the addiction treatment centre.
It was proposed that the centre would be able to cater for nine residents and it would have operated on a 24/7 basis.
The treatment centre was proposed by religious group, the Refuge of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, with the backing of the Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, Alphonsus Cullinan.
The group had hoped to convert a dormer bungalow into the centre, as well as building an oratory and an adjoining 3-bedroom house to accomodate nuns who would run the centre.
According to the Irish Examiner, 11 local residents have appealed against the decision to grant planning permission.
There are fears among local residents that those housed at the facility would be “physically, psychologically and emotionally troubled persons” who could pose a threat to them.
The residents are also said to have raised concerns about the Refuge of the Immaculate Heart of Mary's qualifications to run such a facility - as well as believing that the centre would be best placed in a larger, urban area as opposed to the site in Cladagh, 4km outside the village of Clashmore.
It has also been claimed that some parents have threatened to remove their children from a local school should the centre get up and running.
Waterford Council say that the site would be ideally suited to a rural location, such as the proposed site, on account of the 'isolation and insulation' it would be able to prove.
The site is neither permitted nor precluded in the county development plan and a decision is expected on the centre in June.
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