This article is from page 15 of the 2007-10-16 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 15 JPG
A CLARE councillor has asked the local authority to get legal advice on whether structures that don’t normal- ly need planning permission could be up for demolition if they are built on an indicative road line.
Cllr Cathal Crowe (FF) said that those with land crossed by a line that effectively sterilises that land for future road development are left in limbo when it comes to planning.
‘The northern distributor road in- dicative line runs through my area and there have been a number of applications refused on the basis of dake
Cllr Crowe said that there are farm- ers in areas like Clonlara who cannot expand or build structures such as slatted sheds, which would normally be exempt from planning permis- sion, because they don’t know what will happen later on.
He added that the council “needs to follow up and keep people informed when we have a public consultation on a road line. A line can be moved and I know a number of people who have gone to the trouble and expense of applying for permissions only to be refused because there 1s an indica- tive line through their land.”
Senior Executive Planner, Liam Conneally told the meeting that there is legislation which covers future in- frastructure development.
“If people need to know whether or not planning permission 1s required,
they can apply to the local authority and the process 1s speedy,” he said.
He added that there is good news in the offing in that the first phase of the Northern Distributor Road will begin shortly, with Limerick County Council taking the lead.
Cllr Crowe said he would like as- surances that the council will fol- low through thoroughly after public consultation meetings and that legal
advice would be taken on whether exempt structures can be demolished if they are on such sterilised land.
But Mayor of Clare, Cllr Patricia McCarthy, said she was sounding a warning bell about the legal advice.
She said it was not up to the coun- cil to pay to get legal advice for in- Cn aTAeLUE Tice