The controversy was sparked after An Bord Plean�la rejected proposals earlier approved by the county council for the construction of an hotel on a derelict site on the outskirts of the town. K Dar Developments had proposed building a 33bed hotel with a swimming pool, gym and conference facilities in the Parade and Bachelors Walk area of town.

Thirty apartments and six townhouses along with 146 basement car park spaces and 37 surface spaces were also to have been included.

Appealing the decision to the Planning Board, the BEA described the proposed development as "inappropriate in the context of the general landscape, its relationship with adjoining streets and historic towncentre setting". The Board rejected the planned construction, citing "its poor quality of design. . . and the detrimental visual impact on adjoining streets and the riverfront."

"There's a lot of bad feeling in the town over this, " says local Fine Gael councillor, Denis Foley. "The BEA isn't elected by anybody. They certainly don't represent the people of Bagenalstown.

"This is the county's second town and it's thriving at the moment. But we don't have one single hotel.

"The problem now is that the development would have qualified for Section 23 tax concessions. But the clock is ticking on that now and whatever is eventually built there, it won't be an hotel. Bagenalstown was one of the places earmarked under the town renewal scheme.

"I hate to see people stopping progress. We have good planners in the county council. We gave this proposal careful consideration and added conditions to its construction. It seems to me that if you wanted to build a hen house in this town you'd have people objecting."

Green Party member John Tully is a former secretary of the BEA which was set up five years ago and has approximately fifty registered members. "We've had two previous major developments in the town which turned out to be disastrous.

One of the reasons the association was set up was to prevent that happening again.

"We don't have the authority to prevent unsuitable development. All we can do is make referrals to An Bord Plean�la. It's the sort of thing An Taisce should be doing but it simply doesn't have the resources. One or two local councillors have been vocal on this issue but in general most people in the town are in agreement with our aims and objectives.

"A lot of disinformation has been spread about the proposed hotel. A lot of people simply didn't understand what the plans were and what the proposed development was."