Barefield

Barefield

Location and Context

Barefield is situated on the R458, 8km north of Ennis. Nearby, Ballyallia Lake teems with bird life in the winter and in the summer is a popular recreation spot for picnics, walks, kayaking and canoeing. Dromore Woods lies to the north of the village. The village has a church, a primary school, a community centre, pre-school facilities, pitch, two public houses, a new cafe and a social services centre which accommodates the Clare Crusaders children’s clinic. Its proximity to Ennis, the M18 motorway, and the surrounding countryside makes it an attractive place to live. To date, development has mainly occurred in a linear fashion along the R458 with ribbon development along the local road to the west of the settlement.

Barefield is ideally located in close proximity to Ennis and with direct access to the M18 motorway. The village has a large primary school serving a wide catchment area and is an attractive place to live and provides an attractive alternative to one-off rural housing. Barefield recently received funding under the Town and Village Renewal Scheme to provide a cycle/footpath to link both ends of the village, traffic calming, an uncontrolled pedestrian crossing, drainage and landscaping. This will enhance the village public realm and promote active travel within the village.

The goal of the settlement plan for Barefield is to consolidate the village core, retain and, where possible, increase the range of services and provide an increased level of public amenity. The strategy for Barefield, is to provide for small scale well designed residential, mixed use and community development which will have regard to the character of the settlement. A key priority is to retain community and social facilities within the village and to encourage further service provision.

Water is supplied to Barefield from the Ennis Public Water Supply which is adequate to meet future needs.

There is limited wastewater infrastructure in the village and wastewater is pumped to Ennis for treatment. It serves the school and a limited number of properties in the village, and currently does not extend beyond the school. The majority of properties in the village are served by individual septic tanks and it is anticipated that this situation will continue for the Plan period and any future residential development, commercial or employment generating development will require private wastewater treatment systems subject to suitable site specific conditions. The EPA Code of Practice for Wastewater Treatment Systems will be strictly adhered to in order to ensure protection of the receiving environment.

The village is not currently served by public transport, however securing a bus service will be encouraged in any future active and sustainable travel plans.

General Objectives

• To promote the consolidation of the existing village through brownfield reuse/redevelopment and compact growth; and • To ensure future growth is incremental and small scale in nature, and is relative and appropriate to the function, scale, size and character of the village.

Employment and Enterprise

The proximity of the M18 motorway and the location of Barefield within a short commuting distance of Ennis and Shannon together with a school and local services make this an attractive place to live. In order to promote economic development, land for Mixed Use zoning has been identified in the village centre which allows for a range of commercial and employment uses to be accommodated.

Strategy for growth and sustainable communities

The strategy for the sustainable growth of the village and its community is through consolidation and regeneration that promotes compact sequential growth and supports and strengthens a sustainable village community and its rural hinterland. This will be achieved by encouraging small scale growth in areas which make a positive contribution to the overall enhancement of the village and sustains it into the future. In line with this approach and to promote vibrant rural villages, village growth areas have been identified which provide opportunities and choice for development, including small scale commercial, enterprise, community, services/facilities as well as small scale cluster housing, all of which offers a viable and attractive option for rural living within a village community and setting.

The delivery of any new development in Barefield will be encouraged by adopting a combined approach of sequential compact growth and the re-use and redevelopment of any vacant or derelict sites and buildings within the village.

The areas identified for village growth allow for the sustainable compact growth of the settlement, providing opportunities for small scale cluster type housing, as well as for other uses appropriate to the function, size and scale of the village.

Any development is highly dependent on the suitability of the land to accommodate on-site treatment systems.

It is important that any new development is sympathetic in its design to the village setting. The broadleaved trees and hedgerows associated with areas identified for growth should be retained as part of any future development to provide foraging and commuting routes for all bat species given the location of the settlement within an important area for bats and also its proximity to the Dromore Woods SAC.

VGA 1 South of the Primary School

This elevated site in a central location in the village, situated adjacent to the school, would require development to be of a high standard of layout and design. A buffer running along the M18 to protect the future amenity of development is required. The buffer shall be designed having regard to the Clare Noise Action Plan 2018 and associated Strategic Noise Maps as prepared by Transport Infrastructure Ireland.

Place Making and Amenity

This settlement extends along the R458, the former national route to Galway. It intersects with the Ruan road and the slip road giving access to the motorway at a staggered junction. As each branch of the settlement has a different character, it lacks unity. Given the lower levels of traffic along the R458 since the opening of the M18 there is now an opportunity to enhance the public realm of the village, provide traffic calming and provision for safe pedestrian and cycle connectivity within the village and to the school/community centre in particular. The possibility of narrowing the carriageway could be examined and this may allow for space to allocate to footpaths/cycle ways to serve safe access to the school. This could be combined with a number of points of enclosure formed by planting two opposing rows of suitable trees. Around the school these areas could be combined with crossing areas.

The staggered junction in the centre of the village would benefit from a scheme design to better manage conflicting circulation patterns around vehicles crossing the road and visiting the facilities in the area. Any such design scheme should consider incorporating a suitably sized focal point to identify the Clare Crusaders clinic reflecting its significance to the wider community. Such a landmark would also serve as a fulcrum point for the settlement and improve village identity.