This article is from page 6 of the 2008-10-28 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
MEMBERS of Clare County Coun- cil are set for a clash with Environ- ment Minister, John Gormley after they ignored department directions and loosened restrictions on one-off housing in the greater Ennis area.
At a special meeting on the adop- tion of the draft Ennis Development Plan, Senior Executive Planner, John Bradley said a submission from the department made it clear that the de- velopment plan was not compatible with National Policy and the Nation- al Spatial Strategy.
He was responding to a call from Cllr Bernard Hanrahan (FF) to make allowances for people within the Ennis urban boundary who were not allowed build on land they own in the countryside.
“This has been discussed ad nau- seum for the past two years with councillors and it is unfortunate that it is coming up today. We can do no more and are likely to be told by the department to remove what is in the plan,” he said.
Mr Bradley added that the council had loosened restrictions on one-off housing rather than tightening them.
Last year, when members of Mon- aghan County Council chose to ig- nore a department directive on what should be in the County Develop- ment Plan, Minister Gormley used special powers to make the changes.
Cllr PJ Kelly (FF) said that there were terrible clouds coming from the Department of the Environment circular. In its submission, the de- partment said that the controls on the establishment of housing in country- side areas should be reviewed.
“Councils should either remove this policy or tighten the definitions to ensure that settlement in the coun- tryside areas occurs in a sustainable and appropriate manner. The whole of the Ennis environs is an area which is under urban pressure and in such areas the aim should be to strictly limit opportunities for resi- dential development to those people who are local and/or have a genuine link to the rural area,’ the depart- ment submission stated.