Official opposes revised development plan for Clare

The chief planning official of Co Clare has opposed the county's revised development plan, saying that key elements in it would be bad planning policy.

In the draft variation of the development plan, the council is proposing that "in exceptional circumstances, the planning authority may grant a permission even though the decision would not accord with other policy statements".

Making a presentation to the council's adjourned January meeting, the senior executive planner, Mr Brendan McGrath, said that "given the current climate where there is a cloud over our planning system, it is my own feeling that it is a bad policy for the council to adopt and very difficult to implement".

He told council members that the proposal contained in the 31-page document has been discussed by the council planners and "as professionals, we would not be happy with it".

Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Independent) said yesterday she was nervous of the proposed provision. "It would put an onerous burden on the manager, Willie Moloney, leaving him open to pressures if there is not a reporting procedure in relation to the clause," she said.

The complete overhaul of the council's "who builds what where" policy follows councillors seeking a review of the plan last July after a significant rise in planning refusals in the first six months of last year.

Since then two council committees have met regularly to debate various proposals.

The proposed variation in the development plan also radically modifies the controversial general ban on non-locals building in the open countryside which was adopted in December 1999.

Non-locals will now to able to build in the countryside on parts of the Clare coastline and in the Burren, areas where they were generally prohibited from building within in the adopted plan.

In the plan, a local person is defined as either a person born in the local area, and with immediate relatives still living there, or any person who lives in the local area or whose parents have been living there for a minimum for 10 years.

However, there remains a general ban on people from outside Clare building in the open countryside in "high development areas" in the east of the county, although applications will be considered by "outsiders" in the western part of Clare if they are working in the county.

An exception has been made in the high-pressure areas to allow non-locals from Clare if they are building their first homes. However, Mr McGrath also expressed his opposition to the proposal. He told councillors: "It is not a good policy and not one I would recommend. It would put serious pressure on the rural landscape."

Councillors are meeting on the issue tomorrow before discussing the draft variation with officials on Monday.