A huge portion of the town of Kiltimagh will be sterilised for planning purposes if a decision by the Swinford electoral area committee made this week is ratified by the full meeting of Mayo County Council on Monday.
In an unprecedented move it took three Swinford area county councillors almost five hours to discuss the manager’s report in relation to the draft Kiltimagh local area plan at a meeting on Tuesday.
The contentious issue related to two proposed roads: one for a proposed by-pass for the town and the second a link road.
Sarah Newell of the National Building Agency went through the 29 public submissions which were made following the publication of the draft area plan for Kiltimagh.
Most of the submissions related to the two proposed roads, neither of which will be constructed in the near future due to the council’s financial situation, but which were included to preserve a corridor and to free up the rest of the town for planning purposes. However if an amendment by Kiltimagh based councillor Eugene Lavin to have the two roads removed from the plan is ratified by the full council on Monday, then very little planning will take place in Kiltimagh for the coming years as no route will be preserved for the two roads. A new study area and route for the by-pass will have to be drawn up by the council’s roads department, which could take years, and until such time as this process is completed a large area of the town will be sterilised for planning, the meeting was told.
When it came to the councillors recommending the adoption of the manager’s report, the meeting reached stalemate with Cllr Lavin refusing to accept the revised by-pass route and the proposed link road route.
It was put to the Fine Gael councillor that the revised by-pass route would satisfy most of those who had concerns about the original route as no houses were interfered with (two houses would have been taken out if the initial route was approved ).
However, Cllr Lavin had concerns that the boundary of the town as set out in the draft plan was too restrictive. He also felt that the “compromise” by-pass route still went too close to houses and needed to be pushed further out to allow for development. He was adamant that he would not accept the manager’s report with the two proposed roads included and said the public would decide the route of the roads and not council officials.
Essential to plan for bye-pass
Senior engineer with Mayo County Council Noel Burke told the meeting that it was essential to plan a route for a by-pass of the town. He added that the by-pass was strategically located to cater for two big employers in Kiltimagh — Park Hotel and the Cairn Centre.
Cllr Lavin was urged by senior executive officer Paul Benson to accept the manager’s report and let the plan go back on public display. Mr Benson said no matter how far out the by-pass goes it would still be going through someone’s land. Mr Benson explained that it would be a poor planning decision not to present a line for the proposed by-pass in the plan.
In adopting the manager’s report Cllr Lavin eventually proposed that the by-pass and link roads be taken out of the plan. This was seconded by Cllr Joe Mellett. Cllr Jimmy Maloney refused to second the amendment. Cllr Gerry Murray was absent from the meeting.
The manager’s report and the four amendments made by the Swinford area councillors will now go before the full county council meeting on Monday for ratification. The other three amendments related to a buffer area, zoning, and a community facility. It is unusual for the elected representatives of other areas to go against a decision made by a particular committee, but the option is open to the full meeting to reverse or alter the decision of the Swinford committee should they wish.
The plan will then go back on public display, offering the public a chance to make more submissions in relation to the amendments only.
Once the plan is finally implemented it will act as a blueprint as to how Kiltimagh will develop over the next decade.
