The Ballina electoral area committee stood firm on their stance in regard to a zoning issue in the town and environs development plan at their meeting this week. Stephen Dowds, a planning consultant for Mayo County Council, went through a number of submissions that the council had received on foot of the draft development plan that was published late last year. One submission and suggestion in the manager’s report sparked the ire of the councillors. Before the plan went out on public display the elected members of the council had decided to rezone a portion of land from agricultural to industrial commercial, at the request of a business owner who had a premises he wanted to extend. However the report put before them at this week’s meeting was calling on changing the lands back to agricultural.
Cllr Seamus Weir raised the issue at the meeting: “The last time this was discussed we had agreed to change the zoning, now it’s being changed back, so what are our powers here if you can just change it back?” he asked. Cllr Eddie Staunton also felt that the council should have stuck with the councillors’ decisions. “We all agreed that day and now it’s coming back as rejected to us.”
Director of services Paddy Mahon outlined the reasoning for changing the zoning back to its original classification. He told the meeting: “The plan went out on public display and we got three submissions on it, one in favour of the new zoning and two against, one from Mayo County Council and one from the EPA. The decision was based on those submissions.” Cllr Weir quickly responded by telling the meeting: “So it wasn’t someone next door who objected to it, it was the council and a government department.” Cllr Johnny O’Malley joined in the debate telling the meeting: “When we zoned this land we were told that the Department of Environment would probably send it back to us, but looking at the submissions it seems like they have no problem with it.”
The members resolved to agree to the plan with the changes, with the exception to the rezoning of the lands on the Killala Road back to agricultural which they had rezoned previously.
