This article is from page 31 of the 2008-11-18 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 31 JPG
CLARE County Council is on a collision course with the National Roads Authority (NRA) after they ignored repeated NRA pleas to tight- en restrictions for one-off homes off national routes.
At a special council meeting last week, senior council planner John Bradley said the decision to allow exceptions for one-homes along na- tional routes in the draft Ennis De- velopment Plan was not consistent with national policy and was going
against NRA policy.
In the draft plan, the council says it will not allow developments on national routes where the maximum speed limit applies.
But there are a number of excep- tions to allow one-off homes for farmers and their own children wish- ing to build a house for their own oc- cupancy.
This has proved too much for the NRA and in a submission to the council, the roads authority says the council policy allows exceptions to the general restriction on access to
national roads.
“The authority requests the inclu- sion of a clearly phrased policy, consistent with official Government policy, outlining the county coun- cil’s position in relation to access to national roads, whereby access to national routes, outside areas where SOkph speed limit applies, will be restricted.
As a result, the NRA requested the council to make amendments to its policies “clearly indicating a restric- tion on direct acccess to national routes outside where a 5Okph speed
limit applies in accordance with of- ficial policy”.
“While the authority considers that none of the exceptions to the re- striction on direct access to national routes listed represent exceptional circumstances, the council are wel- come to review proposals with the authority with a view of establishing an agreed approach,’ the organisa- tion stated.
However, at a behind closed door meeting held last week in Ennis, councillors rejected the NRA sub- HOD EstSI CO) IF
The NRA submission was support- ed by a separate submission from the Department of the Environment.
The department stated: “The na- tional road infrastructure represents a very substantial investment which needs to be protected.
‘In this regard, two issues are of particular concern. Firstly, the ex- emptions are not in line with national policy as set out in the “Development Control Advice and Guidelines’ and ‘Policy and Planning Framework for Roads’ issued by the Department of Environment”.