A large development located on the Lodge Road in Westport may fail to get planning permission following the non-inclusion of submissions which were received by the town council in September in relation to their considering a material contravention to the Westport Development Plan.
The move for a contravention followed a planning application submitted by Brendan Byrne in April of this year for a mixed use residential development (residential, crèche and gym ) to be constructed on zoned industrial land adjacent to the Lodge Road/N5 junction in the townland of Carrowbeg.
In accordance with planning and development regulations, the town council advertised their intention to consider deciding to grant a planning permission which would materially contravene the Westport Development Plan 2003, in the Irish Independent on August 22. Submissions were invited to be received no later than September 19.
During last week’s Westport Town Council meeting councillors proposed the contravention following a letter which they received from Town Manager Peter Hynes, dated October 2, which stated that “no submissions were received”.
However, following the meeting it was discovered that one submission had in fact been received. A letter and copy of the submission was then circulated to members on October 10, which stated that Mary Muldoon, Assumpta, Lodge Road, Westport lodged a submission on September 1. Subsequently a special meeting of the town council was then called for yesterday morning (Thursday ).
Acting Town Manager for the meeting Martin Keating outlined that for a resolution to be made no fewer than six town councillors should propose this resolution.
Councillor Margaret Adams was the first to propose it, adding that it was “unfortunate what happened” in that the submission was not accounted for before. Cllr Brendan Mulroy seconded the resolution but commented that the submission, which highlighted traffic control, was an important point to note. Cllr Myles Staunton concurred and said that the traffic issue was important to look into and also supported the resolution. Cllr Tereasa McGuire agreed that “safety is paramount” and she too supported the proposal.
Cllr Declan Dever, who supported the resolution, said that he was “delighted” to see the submission as it showed that people were interested in the development of the town and said that the points raised in the submission should be considered in the future development of the area. Cllr Dave Keating said that though there were some valid points made in the submission, he welcomed this particular development as it is an asset to the region.
However, the resolution failed to be passed as it came to light during the meeting that there was another submission to consider. Cllr Myles Staunton drew his fellow councillors’ attention to a letter which was attached to the submission received in September, which referred to an earlier submission sent in during the planning application process in May. Cllr Staunton questioned whether the reference to a former submission would therefore constitute part of the submission for this application.
On checking the file, Mr Keating confirmed to members that the submission which came in during the planning process was resubmitted during the material contravention, but had not been circulated to members to consider. Mr Keating said that he was “not satisfied” to proceed with passing the resolution on this basis and that the matter had to be dealt with on another date.
Cllr Adams asked what implications this would have for the planning application, to which Mr Keating explained that there were two courses of action—to refuse the application or for the applicant to withdraw the application and to consider it again, as yesterday (Thursday ) was the last day in the timeframe for councillors to consider the development.
Mr Keating said that he would consult with a legal advisor to see if there was enough time for the submission to be circulated and considered by members and to hold a meeting later in the evening, however, Mr Keating was not satisfied whether this allowed reasonable time for councillors to consider the submission. At the time of going to press (Thursday afternoon ) no special meeting had been reconvened.
