This article is from page 14 of the 2007-09-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
MEMBERS of An Bord Pleanala may soon face vetting from Clare Council Council should a motion put forward by the council be accepted by the planning authority.
This follows a motion put forward at last nights meeting of Clare Coun- ty Council by north Clare Council- lor, Michael Kelly (FF), which ques- tioned the logic of decisions made by An Bord Pleanala.
The motion, which was proposed by Cllr Kelly and seconded by Cllr Martin Conway (FG), called on the Department of the Environment to inform the council on the back- erounds of Bord Pleanala officials and in particular what percentage of officials are city or country dwellers.
“My concern is that the rural agenda is not being catered for the the mem- bers of An Bord Pleanala. I want to find out once and for all what is the background of the people who make decisions concerning rural Ireland,” said Cllr Kelly.
“IT would like to know, are they rural landowners, would they have experience in rural planning, would they have qualifications or are they picked add lib.
“If I am correct in what I believe there are only about two members from farming backgrounds. If you were a rural person, you would like the people who are making the deci- sions about rural communities to the the experience and social qualifica- tion to understand what is happening
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“We have huge population decreas- es inrural areas and you still find that properties are still being refused.
“There are huge inconsistencies with An Board Pleanala, if you look at phone masts, they allow masts to go up to 70 and 80 feet into the air but yet houses beside it are brought down to a 6.5, or in some cases 5.5, fringe.
“If you are obtrusive with a 5.5 fringe, how do you grant an 80 foot mast. There is an inconsistency here.”
Speaking on the subject, Clir Mar- tin Conway, described some of the decisions made by An Bord Pleana- la as coming from “Never, Never Land.”