Gort planning criticised by An Taisce report

“CERTAIN guidelines were ignored” when planning was granted to a number of developments on South Galway flood plains, one local councillor believes. Granting planning permissions on South Galway flood plains was “madness” Councillor Gerry Finnerty said after a report published this week by An Taisce, the national trust, singled out a number of planning decisions in Gort for specific criticism.
Another local representative acknowledged that too much land was zoned in the area over the course of the economic boom.
State of the Nation: A Review of Ireland’s Planning System 2000-2011 was published this week and gave Galway County Council an F grade in planning or 31%. It was ranked joint 28 out of 34 local authorities nationally. Galway City Council came in third best with a C grade.
“Isn’t hindsight wonderful? Yes, without a doubt, we rezoned far too much land in all town plans and we don’t need An Taisce to remind us of that now, Fine Gael Councillor Bridie Willers commented.
At the height of the so-called Celtic Tiger, there was a view that the more land rezoned would result in reduced house prices. This simply did not happen. In fact, the opposite happened. Developers competed against each other to buy land at grossly inflated prices, aided and abetted by banks, which loaned them money. If there had been any control on the banking sector by the regulator of the day, we would not have so many people in negative equity now or indeed simply unable to pay their mortgages,” she added.
An Taisce “has successfully taken numerous appeals in the public interest to highlight hopelessly delinquent practice by councils in granting planning permission for development on flood plains”, the report stated. It cited a 39-apartment mixed-use development for Kinincha Road, Gort, granted permission by Galway County Council but later refused by An Bord Pleanála in 2009. It described this as a “significant refusal by An Bord Pleanála in an appeal taken by An Taisce against development proposals on flood plains”.
In 2009, large parts of South Galway were submerged in the worst flooding to hit the region in years. Many homes and businesses were affected. In its report, An Taisce pointed out that long before flooding began hitting the headlines, it “consistently opposed inappropriate developments on flood plains and repeatedly highlighted the urgent need to redress the wayward approach of many councils”. It said it noted in 2003 that inland and coastal flooding was “increasing due to climate change, with the potential for 15% additional rainfall in the autumn/winter, as well as the increased incidence of extreme events, such as torrential all-day rain”.
“Notwithstanding the scientific evidence, councils across the country have continued to zone land and grant planning permission for new development on known flood plains,” the report stated.
“In one example, An Taisce successfully overturned a decision by Galway County Council to grant planning permission for a mixed-use development on an extensive low-lying area of land on the flood plain of the Gort River prone to regular flooding. Later that same year, 2009, the site had turned into a ‘17 acre lake’.”
Gerry Finnerty was elected to the council in June 2009. “I am quite new to the scene and planning wouldn’t have been a major issue since I got into the council because of the lack of development at the moment. Looking at the report in general and particularly building on flood plains, that was daftness, madness and it should never have happened,” he told The Clare Champion. 
“There were certain guidelines ignored, I believe, and certainly in relation to flood plains, the guidelines were there. Information was available on lots of areas that were flood plains or prone to flooding. It was known,” the Fianna Fáil councillor stated.
“At the time, there was major development in many areas of the county and some people were saying that maybe there was a lack of development opportunities and towns like Gort needed to grow. There was probably more land zoned than what was needed but I think that was the background to it. When you look at towns like Gort, there was limited development in the town and limited housing and then all of a sudden we had an increase in people staying in the town and an influx of people to the area for work and various factors triggered the zoning,” he continued.
Councillor Finnerty believes the report, which highlights over zoning, could result in “the pendulum swinging too far in the other direction”.
“The major concern I have about all of this is that we could go in the opposite direction and refuse planning permission left, right and centre and I have a sneaking feeling that is happening, to be honest. I have seen two planning applications turned down recently on what I would consider to be minor technicalities,” he stated.
Protecting built heritage was another area where Galway, and Gort in particular, fell down. When the council granted permission for the demolition of a house on Queen Street and Bridge Street in Gort, An Taisce once again successfully appealed the decision. It described the decision by Galway County Council as “inappropriate”.
“Ireland’s built heritage came under sustained attack throughout the Celtic Tiger, with important country houses and demesnes earmarked for new hotel-and-housing developments in particular. An Taisce has been to the fore in conserving Ireland’s important stock of built heritage for future generations,” it stated.
In terms of councils’ record when it comes to habitats and environment, “Ireland has a dismal performance in implementing EU environmental law, one of the worst, if not the worst, in Europe”.
It points to the landslide at Derrybrien as an example of what can happen, “If there is no appeal then these decisions slip through, with serious potential for environmental damage”.
It noted the fallout can extend beyond Ireland’s wildlife resources and stated that despite what happened in South Galway, “Derrybrien has been repeated twice since, first affecting the river Feale in County Kerry and resulting in fish kills, with water cut off from 4,000 people, and second in County Leitrim, where pollution seeped into Lough Allen, again killing fish and harming the tourist sector. The cause was the same in all three instances: attempting to build roads or foundations for wind turbines in inherently unsuitable upland locations.”
“Assessing environmental impacts – as required under EU law – would avoid further repeats of these situations. Indeed, An Bord Pleanála itself has more to do to meet EU environmental law as shown in its decision to grant planning permission for a route for an outer bypass of Galway, which would adversely affect protected habitats, a case since referred to the European Court of Justice,” the report warned.
“An Taisce has initiated the establishment of the Environmental Law Implementation Group in partnership with the Government and it is hoped that this initiative will help protect vital assets in our environment (such as water supplies), assist in the full implementation of EU law, and shield Irish taxpayers from the fines that would result from remaining in legal default,” it continued.