Over 30% of planning decisions reversed

CLARE County Council was given an E ranking, leaving it in 26th place, according to a review of Ireland’s planning system by An Taisce.

The body used eight criteria to come up with the grading. They included the amount of zoned land as a percentage of population in 2011; decisions reversed by An Bord Pleanála 2005-2010; decisions confirmed by An Bord Pleanála 2005-2010; percentage of vacant housing stock in 2011; change in vacant housing stock 2006-2011 and water quality and the urban areas with secondary treatment failing to meet GPA standards 2011.
It also assessed the percentage of one-off houses permitted as a percentage of all residential planning permissions 2001-2011 and legal proceedings commenced following non-compliance with enforcement notices 2005-2010.
The report found over 30% of planning decisions made by Clare County Council were reversed by An Bord Pleanála from 2005 to 2010.
Almost 40% of planning decisions taken by the council were confirmed on appeal to the board during the same period.
Over 20% of housing stock in Clare was vacant in 2011, while the percentage increase in housing stock vacancy from 2006 to 2011 was over 20% higher during this period.
Up to 40% of agglomerations with secondary treatments in Clare failed to meet EPA standards.
Over 40% of one-off dwellings were granted in Clare as a proportion of total housing units permitted from 2001 to 2011.
Only 22% of prosecutions were initiated by Clare County Council following failure to comply with enforcement notices issued from 2005 to 2009.
It noted that between 2001 and 2011 between 30% and 50% of all planning permissions in Clare, County Cork and Donegal were for one-off housing on unzoned land.
“The loopholes in planning law, which allowed for this chronic over-zoning, were well known throughout the Celtic Tiger era but were not closed until the enactment of the 2010 Planning and Development Amendment Act.
“This loophole was compounded by the introduction of the 2002 Planning and Amendment Act, which essentially amounted to a developer’s charter. As a result of the 2002 act, the zoning of land could for the first time be included in local area plans and the minister had no power to intervene to stop over-zoning or bad planning practice.
“The deregulation was complete with LAPs essentially becoming mass re-zoning vehicles. Many councils deliberately used LAPs as the preferred mechanism to deliver dubious rezonings in the full knowledge that there was no possibility of anyone intervening to stop them,” the report stated.
While not wishing to dismiss the report’s findings, senior planner, Gordon Daly pointed out it only looks at a limited set of quantitative indicators and stressed the council defends its overall record on planning and development in the county.
“Despite the large amounts of land that may have been zoned for residential purposes, strict controls were placed on what was actually permitted and our towns and villages are for the most part not over-developed and we have in a national context a very low number of unfinished developments, which we are working on resolving.
“The report also does not take into account all the other work in the area of planning, such as heritage, building conservation, biodiversity, enterprise promotion, urban and village renewal, promoting good design, in addition to other more ‘qualitative’ indicators.
“In a national context, Clare would be considered to have an excellent track record in these important areas that have an influence on quality of life.
“The council is also playing a lead role in areas such as renewable energy and attempting to harness the potential of the Shannon Estuary, which aren’t measured. In addition, rural counties such as Clare will naturally have a higher proportion of one-off dwellings, as opposed to a city council and so will perform much poorer on such an indicator,” he said.

‘Senseless zoning excesses’in county town highlighted
THE independent environmental watchdog has singled out Ennis for some of the most “senseless zoning excesses” of the Celtic Tiger era.
The national planning review completed by An Taisce found almost 4,500 acres of land was zoned for development and had this all happened, it would have increased the population of the town from 26,000 to over 100,000 people.
An Taisce singles out one case for special mention: that of a local farmer who managed to sell zoned land for €18.8m. However, the buyers of the land were subsequently turned down for planning permission after it was established that the land was on a flood plain.
Despite the fact that Ennis was one of the worst affected areas by flooding in 2009, and that the town only needed a maximum of 175 acres, the Department of the Environment encountered significant difficulties from local councillors in seeking to get this land de-zoned.
The farmer in question, who became a multi-millionaire overnight from the sale of his land, was JJ McCabe from Clarecastle. The 48 acres he sold, near the new motorway outside Ennis, were bought by Galway-based Harmack Developments.
Their plans to build a retail park on the site were thwarted when an environmental impact assessment found the land was built on a floodplain. However, as seen in the report from An Taisce, the agency claimed it took the Department of the Environment some time to dissuade local councillors from allowing the land to remain zoned for development.
McCabe stood for election as an independent candidate in the general election last year and was eliminated on the second count in the Clare constituency. He had previously stood in four local elections in 1991, 1999, 2004 and 2009, each time as an independent candidate.
On launching his campaign last year, McCabe told The Clare Champion, he planned to create jobs by opening a wood processing plant and four offices, one each in Kilrush, Ennistymon, Ennis and Scariff.
He criticised An Taisce during the local election campaign in 2009 after that body’s calls for a reduction in the use of Shannon Airport for environmental concerns.
Clare County Council senior planner, Gordon Daly said in 2011 Ennis Town Council and Clare County Council adopted variation No. 2 of the Ennis and Environs Development Plan 2008-2014 to introduce a phasing of zoned lands to bring the amount of zoned land in Ennis fully in line with agreed national and regional population targets for Ennis.
This move thereby addressed the concerns raised by the former Environment Minister, John Gormley in relation to the Ennis Town and Environs Plan.