This article is from page 8 of the 2014-07-22 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
LAST Friday’s vote against altering the zoning of 24 acres of land in Clarecastle for the construction of a crematorium was the second time in just four days that councillors voted against crematorium plans, which the council planners had been in favour of.
While planning permission for the Clarecastle crematorium and grave- yard had not yet been granted, the proposed material contravention was the last obstacle in the way of planners issuing a green light for the proposal.
At Monday’s meeting of Clare County Council, councillors decided not to sell land for a crematorium in Shannon, even though the project had been granted permission by the local authority and the council had put the land up for sale earlier this year.
The land, which is located at Illaun- managh in Shannon, was purchased by Clare County Council from Shannon Development in 2002, with planning permission granted for the creation of a crematorium in March of 2009. A proposal to sell the land was opposed by Shannon Cllr Gerry Flynn (Ind) who claimed that the land should be kept in local authority ownership and for the future use of the people of the Shannon area.
Cllrs Flynn’s proposal not the sell the land was then opposed by his neighbouring councillor, PJ Ryan (Ind) from Sixmilebridge, who argued that a Clare businessman should not be prevented from developing a legitimate business on the site.
The vote was held to decide the situation with the councillors voting by 14 votes to 11 to retain the land in council ownership.
The land was granted planning permission in March of 2009, with both the Shannon local area members and a full meeting of Clare County Coun- cil voting to sell the 1.29 acre site to Illaunmanagh Ltd for € 140,000 later that year.
The purchase of land never took place however and in March of last year a second developer, Jim Cranwell, applied for an extension of the planning permission for the crematorium. The land was offered for sale by Clare County Council at this time with Mr Cranwell making an offer of € 140,000 – the same amount offered in 2009.