Cratloe
Cratloe Location and Context Cratloe is located within the Limerick Shannon Metropolitan Area along with Sixmilebridge, Ardnacrusha, Clonlara, Ballycannon, Bunratty and their surrounding hinterlands. The Metropolitan Area Strategic Plan aims to strengthen the role of the Limerick Shannon Metropolitan Area as an international location of scale, and a primary driver of economic growth in the Southern Region. Cratloe is a settlement with a unique sylvan landscape setting, located on the rising land between the N18 to the south and the upland wooded areas to the north. The settlement is located approximately 4.8km east of Bunratty and 5.7km north-west of the Clare-Limerick county boundary. The Limerick to Ennis rail line runs through the settlement but the Cratloe station is not in active use. The majority of the village form is relatively recent and has a modern, suburban feel, with mainly detached single dwellings on individual plots. The village has grown in a linear form, with low-density ribbon development spreading out along the approach roads in the direction of Sixmilebridge and the Limerick environs. Cratloe Forest Park Walk is located north of the village and comprises 700ha of forestry, with carpark, picnic site, walking trails and Spraoi sa Choill children’s playground. This is a valuable and popular amenity that attracts visitors from both Limerick and Clare seeking recreational opportunities. Local services and facilities in the settlement consist of a small convenience shop, butchers, St. John’s Catholic Church (RPS109) dating from 1791, national school, community hall, GAA grounds,tennis courts and local pub. Cratloe has no formal public open space, however, the adjacent woodlands and associated walking trails, and to a lesser extent private open space within individual properties, is recognised as making an important contribution to quality of life in Cratloe. Cratloe is served by the Shannon/Sixmilebridge Regional Water Supply Scheme. As such the water supply is constrained as with Sixmilebridge, subject to the identification by Irish Water of a method to reduce losses from the supply network and of augmenting the Regional Water Supply Scheme to cater for future demand. There is no public wastewater treatment infrastructure servicing Cratloe, and it is not on the current Irish Water Programme for Investment to2024. Clare County Council will continue to seek a commitment to invest in the development of a public waste water treatment system for the village. Existing development in the village is currently serviced by individual septic tanks/treatment systems. Inadequate percolation due to the local geological characteristics has resulted in consequent seepage into the aquifer and contamination of the groundwater __________________________________________________________________________________ Draft Clare County Development Plan 2023-2029
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