This article is from page 15 of the 2008-01-29 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 15 JPG
CLARE County Council has warned the National Roads Authority (NRA) to “keep its nose out” of planning is- sues in County Clare.
A heated debate erupted at last night’s meeting of Clare County Council where council members at- tacked the NRA and other Govern- ment-sponsored agencies for hanging rural Clare dwellers out to dry.
This followed a motion put for- ward by Cllr PJ Kelly CFF) in which he accused the NRA of engaging in
an “anti-rural campaign” against de- velopments beside national second- ary routes.
“This will result in hundreds of miles of road in Clare where no houses will be built. This is a crazy situation.
“If you continue with this logic, then the road to Kilrush will end up being the road to God knows where. This regulation doesn’t make sense, and if something doesn’t make sense, then it shouldn’t be there.”
Commenting on the motion, Tom Prendeville (FF) said that other agen-
cies such as the Environmental Pro- tection Agency (EPA) and An Taisce and An Bord Pleanala were all also cuilty of interference.
“If you want to talk about rural bias, then each of these organisations would have something to say on this matter,” he said.
Cllr Madeleine Taylor-Quinn called on the Government to take action to ensure that these agencies did not in- terfere with local planning issues.
‘We must remember that the NRA are an agent of the Government. They are appointed by the minister and the
minister has responsibility for them,” she said.
“If the NRA is getting involved in planning applications, then this must be brought to the attention of nation- al Government. In my view, the NRA are going beyond its remit.
“We have about 130 miles of na- tional secondary roads in Clare. This is a huge part of the county which is being adversely affected by the NRA.
“We need to send a message to the minister on this.”
Independent councillors Christy
Curtin and Martin Lafferty also criti- cised the role played by the NRA.
“The NRA’s role is overplayed in this county when it comes to plan- ning. They are mitigating against good decision-making.
“The legitimate planning authority for Clare is Clare County Council,” rem GubsunnO
“They are statutary consultees. It wasn’t Santa Claus who promoted the NRA into their position.
“We should get on to the minister and ask about the remit of the NRA and all the other consultees.”