An East Clare councillor has described a ministerial directive ordering the rezoning of lands in the county development plan as the height of rural neglect.
Lands throughout the county previously designated for housing have now been ordered to revert for use as Agricultural, Mixed-use and Village Growth Area settlements.
Under recommendations from the Office of the Planning Regulator, The Minister for State at the Department Of Housing and Local Government, Kieran O’Donnell has ordered the local authority to rezone a total of twenty subject lands located in Liscannor, Cooraclare, Broadford, Killaloe, Mullagh, Ballynacally and Ennis.
In Broadford, nine such lands earmarked for low-density residential use have now been ordered to revert for use as Agricultural, Mixed-use and Village Growth settlements.
However, a local councillor is raising concerns that the region will now miss out on funding for critical public infrastructure.
Cooraclare and Broadford are among the rural villages in Clare to have applied for the government’s €50 million pilot scheme to connect unsewered settlements to wastewater infrastructure in April.
Whitegate Fine Gael Councillor Pat Burke believes the de-zoning of residential land in will put a knife in the village’s ambitions for future growth and housing development.
A West Clare councillor meanwhile claims the autonomy on strategic plans should remain with local authorities.
More than 1,400 submissions were made to the Council during the public consultation process for the plan which began back in September 2020, with many relating to the necessity for road access for those hoping to build on farmland.
Clare County Council subsequently included a subsection of the County Development Plan to account for existing accesses to National Secondary Roads under exceptional circumstances.
However, the Ministerial Directive has ordered the provision to be deleted from the plan citing a lack of consistency with the National Planning Framework’s ambitions for enhanced regional accessibility.
Kilkeed-based Fianna Fáíl Councillor Cillian Murphy believes the directive fails to understand the acute issues facing rural Clare.
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