This article is from page 10 of the 2009-03-24 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
PLANS for a contentious compound to the rear of the town hall in Shan- non have been resubmitted by Clare County Council.
The plans were lodged earlier this year and met with stiff opposi- tion from local residential groups, An Taisce, Duchas na Sionna and a group set up amid concerns about the plan called ‘Save the Shannon Town Hall Woodlands’.
The plans were withdrawn earlier this month and the council said it
would make adjustments to the ini- tial proposal, based on issues raised during the public consultation proc- ess, before resubmitting it.
The plan has now been resubmitted, on what the council says 1s a smaller site (reduced from 1,/00 square me- tres to 1,450 square metres).
The council now plans to relocate the depot building on the site directly to the rear of the town hall. It says that traffic movements to and from the depot will be limited to around 60 a day – mainly when workers ar- rive for and leave work.
It also says that council vehicles will be parked at the depot overnight and security measures will be put in place to discourage anti-social be- haviour in the vicinity.
The council says that by placing the building directly behind the town hall, it will not be visible.
“Its original location meant it could be clearly viewed from the road. Other than that, there are no major changes,” said Shannon Town Man- ager Ger Dollard.
He said the proposal was “very modest, very low impact and will
have nothing but a positive benefit for Shannon town”’.
However, local resident Don O’Sullivan says he is “disgusted” that the planning application has been re- Submitted, in the same location.
“There is very strong feelings about this in the town and I believe that the timing of the approval (if this is what is achieved by the county coun- cil) and the local elections will not be missed by the voting population of Shannon. I, for one, will vote to ensure that we get councillors on the local and county councils whose pri-
mary interest is in representing the people of the town,” he said.
The chairman of Duchas na Sionna, Greg Duff – who is a Labour council- lor in the town – said, ““The proposed depot’s site in a green area 1s once again demonstrating a lack of vision and concern in relation to the needs of the local community. I am call- ing on the town manager to seriously consider the many alternative sites that were not seriously considered previously.”
Submissions on the project can be made up until May 8.