This article is from page 15 of the 2008-01-29 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 15 JPG
CLARE County Council is to write to the Department of the Environ- ment, Heritage and Local Govern- ment to amend planning guidelines sO necessary upgrades can be carried out on waste water services.
County Manag- er, Alec Fleming agreed that there was general con- sensus to write to the department after the issue was raised in a motion put for- ward by Councillor Madeleine ‘Taylor Quinn (FG).
Speaking after the debate, Mr Flem- ing said, “The only other thing I would say is that unless we get the sanitary services into various towns and vil- lages, then not a whole lot is going to happen.”
Cllr Taylor Quinn called for the county manager to outline the ef- fect of recently announced housing planning guidelines with specific reference to rural villages and those still awaiting waste water treatment services. She said, “Rural villages have been handicapped by a lack of infrastructure. To impose these
guidelines on towns and villages still waiting for services would be, in my opinion, penal. I propose an amend- ment to these guidelines that, until these places are up to critical mass, then they not be enforced.”
Cllr PJ Kelly (FF) said communi- ties in Clare were paying for the mis-
takes made in hous- ing plans in urban areas. “These were first called regula- tions and when it emerged that peo- ple weren’t entirely happy with them, they were changed and it suddenly be- came a consultative process. If mistakes are made in plan- ning in places like Moyross, then it shouldn’t be places like Scariff and Cooraclare that have to suffer.”
Cllr Martin Lafferty (Ind) said recent focus on the impact on plan- ning in urban areas had ignored the problems facing rural towns and vil- lages. He said, “There was nothing in these articles about regulation and the impact they had in rural areas. I don’t know what kind of spin doctor- ing this is.”