A MOVE by members of Clare County Council to force through a contentious planning permission for an Ennis businessman for a one-off house in the Burren has failed.
Councillors believed they had secured planning permission for Gerry Danagher to build a home at Ballycullinan, Corofin, after they voted by 27 to 3 in favour of contravening the Clare County Development Plan at their June meeting.
A planner’s report before the meeting recommended that permission be refused on a number of grounds.
It was the first time since 1983 that councillors had invoked special powers in the planning area by tabling a contentious Section 140 motion directing the county manager, Alec Fleming, to grant planning permission.
It is also the first time that the councillors overturned the council’s own “locals-only” rule that was introduced in 1999 to grant an individual planning permission.
However, Mr Fleming has refused planning permission to Mr Danagher after taking legal advice.
A refusal has now been issued to Mr Danagher on two grounds. The council has ruled that he does not comply with the policies of the development plan as he does not qualify as a local person as he was not born in the area. It also said the proposal would give rise to a risk of water pollution affecting the quality of the surface waters.
Independent councillor Tommy Brennan, who proposed the material contravention at the meeting, said yesterday he was disappointed at the refusal. “We have to see where we move on from here and see what happens,” he said.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Showing posts with label section 140 motion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label section 140 motion. Show all posts
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
Wednesday, 16 April 2008
Councillors defy planners on house
SLIGO COUNTY councillors have for the first time in 16 years passed a controversial Section 140 motion despite a warning from planners that they were setting "an undesirable precedent". Section 140s were previously known as Section 4s.
Fianna Fáil councillor Jude Devins, who proposed the motion, said that neither he nor his party believed that Section 140s were good for local government as they created dangerous precedents and disparate thinking between councillors and the executive. But he argued that the mechanism was being used in this case as a "last avenue".
Mr Devins said that the family of the applicant, local business man John Mullaney, had owned the site for close to 50 years. "I am a strong and ardent believer in family members being entitled to build on their family land and I make no apology for this belief."
Senior planner Frank Moylan said the site at Ballyweelin, Rosses Point, had been the subject of five previous planning applications, three of which were withdrawn while two had been refused. The site was in a designated "visually vulnerable area" and the building would "interfere with views of the coastline and Knocknarea".
Mr Devins said the entire coastline of Co Sligo had been designated as visually vulnerable and each application had to be assessed on its merits.
He and the Fianna Fáil party were determined that it would never again take four years to resolve such a planning application.
While 19 councillors supported the Section 140 motion it was opposed by two Independent councillors, Declan Bree and Margaret Gormley, and by Sinn Féin's Seán MacManus. There were three abstentions.
Labour's Jimmy McGarry, who seconded the motion, said it was for a family home on a single site and was not a development designed for economic gain.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Fianna Fáil councillor Jude Devins, who proposed the motion, said that neither he nor his party believed that Section 140s were good for local government as they created dangerous precedents and disparate thinking between councillors and the executive. But he argued that the mechanism was being used in this case as a "last avenue".
Mr Devins said that the family of the applicant, local business man John Mullaney, had owned the site for close to 50 years. "I am a strong and ardent believer in family members being entitled to build on their family land and I make no apology for this belief."
Senior planner Frank Moylan said the site at Ballyweelin, Rosses Point, had been the subject of five previous planning applications, three of which were withdrawn while two had been refused. The site was in a designated "visually vulnerable area" and the building would "interfere with views of the coastline and Knocknarea".
Mr Devins said the entire coastline of Co Sligo had been designated as visually vulnerable and each application had to be assessed on its merits.
He and the Fianna Fáil party were determined that it would never again take four years to resolve such a planning application.
While 19 councillors supported the Section 140 motion it was opposed by two Independent councillors, Declan Bree and Margaret Gormley, and by Sinn Féin's Seán MacManus. There were three abstentions.
Labour's Jimmy McGarry, who seconded the motion, said it was for a family home on a single site and was not a development designed for economic gain.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Tuesday, 4 December 2007
Planners in Donegal are overruled by councillors
Donegal county councillors have run into conflict with the county's director of planning by scrapping planners' decisions in order to secure permission for one-off housing for their constituents.
Councillors generally have no involvement in granting planning permission. However, Donegal councillors have used an obscure section of the Local Government Act to overturn decisions to refuse planning permission.
The council planners had refused permission for one-off houses in Donegal town and in Killybegs. The house in Donegal town would have constituted a traffic hazard, the planners said, while the proposed site of the Killybegs house would have been unsuitable for sewage treatment.
Earlier this week councillors voted overwhelmingly to overturn the refusal invoking section 140 of the Local Government Act. Rarely used outside Donegal, Kerry and Galway, this section allows councillors to direct the county manager to perform a particular action, or make a particular decision, as long as it is lawful. However, if there is any subsequent legal action arising out of their use of this power, the councillors are personally liable for legal costs.
Use of this section of the Act is almost unheard of in Dublin. When planning permission was granted for the Dublin Corporation (now Dublin City Council) buildings at Wood Quay in the 1980s, Dublin councillors, concerned about the destruction of the city's Viking heritage, attempted to use section 140 to overturn the permission. However, on learning that they could be liable for all the cost of the project to date, they decided not to use the power.
Donegal's director of planning Francie Coyle is considering whether or not the councillors' motions to overturn the permissions can be allowed to stand. At last Monday's council meeting, Mr Coyle had "strongly urged" councillors not to invoke the act.
He warned councillors that they must give "reasons of an expert or reasoned judgment as to why the advice of the council's expert has been overruled" and that if they failed to provide justification for their actions, he could decide to refuse permission.
If the councillors' decision is adopted and permission is granted, that permission can be appealed to An Bord Pleanála. The planning board said that in such cases, the file prepared by the planning department of the local authority is considered as part of the review.
Olivia Kelly and Cronan Scanlon
The Irish Times
Councillors generally have no involvement in granting planning permission. However, Donegal councillors have used an obscure section of the Local Government Act to overturn decisions to refuse planning permission.
The council planners had refused permission for one-off houses in Donegal town and in Killybegs. The house in Donegal town would have constituted a traffic hazard, the planners said, while the proposed site of the Killybegs house would have been unsuitable for sewage treatment.
Earlier this week councillors voted overwhelmingly to overturn the refusal invoking section 140 of the Local Government Act. Rarely used outside Donegal, Kerry and Galway, this section allows councillors to direct the county manager to perform a particular action, or make a particular decision, as long as it is lawful. However, if there is any subsequent legal action arising out of their use of this power, the councillors are personally liable for legal costs.
Use of this section of the Act is almost unheard of in Dublin. When planning permission was granted for the Dublin Corporation (now Dublin City Council) buildings at Wood Quay in the 1980s, Dublin councillors, concerned about the destruction of the city's Viking heritage, attempted to use section 140 to overturn the permission. However, on learning that they could be liable for all the cost of the project to date, they decided not to use the power.
Donegal's director of planning Francie Coyle is considering whether or not the councillors' motions to overturn the permissions can be allowed to stand. At last Monday's council meeting, Mr Coyle had "strongly urged" councillors not to invoke the act.
He warned councillors that they must give "reasons of an expert or reasoned judgment as to why the advice of the council's expert has been overruled" and that if they failed to provide justification for their actions, he could decide to refuse permission.
If the councillors' decision is adopted and permission is granted, that permission can be appealed to An Bord Pleanála. The planning board said that in such cases, the file prepared by the planning department of the local authority is considered as part of the review.
Olivia Kelly and Cronan Scanlon
The Irish Times
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