This article is from page 14 of the 2008-10-07 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
INDEPENDENT councillor, Tom- my Brennan was to the forefront of moves to save local companies hav- ing millions of euro wiped from the value of their landbanks.
In a draft of the new Ennis Devel- opment Plan presented to councillors earlier this year, council planners had dezoned valuable land banks owned by Tom Hogan Motors Ltd, Michael Lynch Ltd and T Sheils Ltd.
The businesses scrambled to lobby
councillors to have the proposed de- Zonings reversed.
Only last year, Tom Hogan Motors paid over €10 million for an eight acre site which includes the One Mile Inn on the Lahinch Road.
The dezoning would have wiped millions off the value of the site as part of it would have been zoned ‘flood risk’.
The council also sought to dezone a site zoned ‘commercial’ owned by T Sheils on the Gort Road to part ‘oth- er settlement land’ with flood plain
designation, while the M Lynch Ltd owned site at St Flannan’s rounda- bout — where the company was re- fused planning for a ©50 million re- tail development – was to be dezoned from a strategic site to ‘other settle- ment land’ and ‘residential’. However, at a behind closed doors meeting in June of this year, all the planners’ moves were reversed with Cllr Brennan leading the way in hav- ing the valuable plots rezoned. Documents secured by The Clare People through the Freedom of In-
formation Act show that Cllr Bren- nan had the unanimous support of his colleagues from the Ennis elec- toral area in backing the rezonings of SoM M ON ReomS Kee
In relation to the M Lynch Ltd site, the minutes state that Cllr Brennan said the company had acquired ad- ditional properties and had an agree- ment with an anchor tenant for the development of a shopping centre. Any interference of the amenities of the surrounding residential prop- erties could be ameliorated by the
planning process.”
In relation to the T Sheils site on the Gort Road, Cllr Brennan proposed that the whole site be returned to ‘commercial’ purposes”.
In relation to the Tom Hogan site on the Lahinch Road,Cllr Pat Daly pro- posed that the site be returned to its ‘district centre’ rezoning.
All of the dezonings were reversed in time for the final development plan to go on display and a report on the submissions is expected to be pre- sented shortly to councillors.