Councillors want tougher approach on estates planning

A South East Clare councillor got the support of his colleagues for a proposal not to give further planning permissions to future housing developments until they finish the first phase of their planning development.

Councillor Pascal Fitzgerald raised the issue at a meeting of Clare County Council on Monday, where he called for estates over 10 years old to be taken in charge.
“Something has to give, it is not fair to people who have purchased houses, they have no playgrounds, there is anti-social behaviour going on. The council needs to take responsibility and needs to do something on this because it is getting serious,” he said.
Councillor Fitzgerald argued a number of estates across the county had gone ahead with further development works when serious issues remained in the first phase of the development.
“It’s time for the council to get real. I would like to see phase one being built and then taken in charge before phase two starts so that we don’t have a situation where 10 years down the line you have the first and second phase done and there are still issues with phase one. It is not fair on people. They are blaming the county councillors. It is time for the planning department to look at ways of improving this. It is not just in my own area, all areas have had this issue. Once one phase is done, we need to come looking at the estate,” Councillor Fitzgerald stressed.
He was supported by Councillor Michael Begley, who highlighted the need for everyday services like water and sewerage to be “the responsibility of somebody every day and it certainly can’t be the householder”.
“Someone has to be available to be called on to correct difficulties with sewerage. I know one area, which has been without water for three days because of difficulties within an estate. The council has to come in and take responsibility for that difficulty. I’m not talking about lighting and pot holes, which people can probably put up with, but people can’t live without water and sewerage,” he continued.
Meanwhile, Councillor Cathal Crowe said, “If one lesson is to be learned, it is that the council needs to go out to investigate these sites and planning enforcement needs to come in.”
Speaking at the meeting, Nora Kaye, director of services for planning, land use and transportation, accepted that there has been difficulty in the past with the management of estates.
“There are complications when you have more than one developer in one estate, where one might have constructed a road and the road is being used by another.
If, for example, after the development of phase one is completed it could be inspected and then if the council is satisfied then it could proceed to phase two,” she said.
In response to this, Councillor Fitzgerald spoke about the Westbury Estate in South East Clare. “What annoys me is that we’ve issues where the planning department gave planning permission for a nursing home and me and my colleagues are fighting to have the estate taken in charge 21 years later,” he said.
In a formal reply to the motion, Ms Kaye said, “In relation to the power of the planning authority not to grant further planning permissions for reasons connected to the phasing of the development, if the planning permission specified that the development must be carried out in phases and this was not adhered to, then the above, by virtue of a breach of a condition, could apply.”