New laws must be introduced to limit just who can make planning objections to major infrastructural projects, according to Fianna Fáil Cllr Michael J Crowe.
Cllr Crowe’s call comes in the wake of An Bord Pleanála’s decision to refuse planning permission for the western half of the Galway City Outer Bypass. ABP’s decision has been greeted with dismay by numerous politicians as well as Galway business and tourism.
Cllr Crowe is calling for new planning rules to be introduced which will restrict the right of people to object to major infrastructural developments. It would mean that only those people who live in the area immediately affected - or at most in the county where the proposed work will take place - can object. Anyone outside that boundary will not be entitled to do so.
Galway West TD Frank Fahey said the decision regarding the bypass was “disastrous for the future of Galway city” and “a crazy decision”. He acknowledged that there were genuine “ecological concerns” but said: “The main objectors at the An Bord Pleanála Oral Hearing are not even resident in the city yet their actions will result in seriously negative implications for people travelling into the city every day.”
Cllr Crowe also noted the non-Galway objectors and it is they who his latest proposal is aimed at.
“These ‘serial objectors’ are not even living in Galway,” he told the Galway Advertiser. “To object is a democratic right, but there should be some kind of legislation in place so when large developments take place that objectors come from that area and not outside it.
“As things stand anyone can just make up a reason and object and there may be no real planning reason for it. It’s ridiculous.”
