by Damian Dowds, Inishowen Independent
DONEGAL councillors and planning officials will meet
within the next month to discuss big changes to the
county development plan that will have far-reaching
consequences for local people seeking planning
permission to build homes in rural and suburban
areas.
“The development plan was adopted in August 2006 and
the problems started arising the very next month,”
said Fianna Fáil party whip Cllr Francis Conaghan.
“Local people who want to live locally and settle in
their community should be allowed to do so. The last
thing we want is for them to get a slap in the face
from the planning office.”
“More flexibility is now built into it and I expect
to see a more common sense approach. It’s a positive
conclusion to two year’s hard work in addressing the
problems that arose.”
In some instances council planners took a very
narrow interpretation of the terms of the
development plan, but the rules regarding so called
ribbon development, backland development, ties to a
local area and the design guide have been relaxed.
“This was an especially emotive issue in Inishowen
and the Inishowen councillors worked as a team to
ensure that these changes were made so that the
different patterns of rural settlement that exist
within the county, and indeed within the peninsula,
can be accommodated,” said Sinn Féin’s Pádraig Mac
Lochlainn.
“Councillors spoke up strongly for local people
seeking to live in their own area,” said Fine Gael
Cllr Bernard McGuinness. “At the meeting with
planners we will be outlining that it is our
interpretation of what the plan means that counts,
not theirs. I’m confident that local people will be
better accommodated under the new regime.”
Cllr McGuinness also welcomed the adoption of a
policy to permit the development of small council
owned housing schemes on lands within one kilometre
of community facilities such as schools and
churches.
“This will help sustain and develop local
communities,” Cllr McGuinness said, adding that the
council needed to build small social and affordable
housing developments in rural areas, rather than
allocating homes to them in towns only.
The council also rejected a proposal to increase the
number of holiday homes permitted in certain local
areas from 20% to 30%. “This proposal should never
have been tabled in the first place,” said Cllr Mac
Lochlainn. “We argued that the public was satisfied
with the existing 20% quota and there was no
appetite to change it.” |
