Fine Gael Cllr John Cribben took over the chairmanship of the Claremorris Electoral Area Committee this week for the upcoming year. The Ballyhaunis councillor took over from Cllr Patsy O’Brien who said while he enjoyed chairing the meetings he was looking forward to getting back to just being a councillor at the meetings and not having to be as restrained as he was in the chair when addressing issues.
Lithuanian twinning arrangements need to be finalised
Ballinrobe based Fianna Fáil Cllr Damien Ryan this week called for the moves to finalise the twinning of Ballinrobe with Lithuania be formalised as soon as possible. “It’s an important project for both communities and we need to have it finalised as soon as we can” he told the meeting. Cllr John Cribben proposed that the September meeting of the committee should have an item on the agenda for the next to discuss the item fully and have a full report on the progress of the twinning.
Councillors call for planning to be granted to house
Cllr Patsy O’Brien and Cllr Tom Connolly this week called for Mayo County Council to grant planning permission for a house in Cloondinnaire, Claremorris that is going to be refused by the council. Mr John McMyler senior planner with Mayo County Council informed the meeting that the house was on the site of an existing house that had been granted planning permission for redevelopment and extension. But the existing house was demolished and the application was no recommended for refusal. Mr McMyler told the meeting that the council had concerns all along about the size of the site which was very small, but they had granted permission for the renovation of the house on the site, but not for the construction of a new house. Cllr O’Brien told the meeting that the existing structure was not safe and that that the new planned house would be much safer. Senior Executive Officer for Mayo County Council, Mr Padraig Flanagan told the meeting that the council was expecting more information from the applicants and that the due date for the decision was not until mid August and it would be looked again at when the new information was received.
Applications for Community Futures project
Mayo County Council are looking for four new communities to take part in the Community Futures programme. Neil Sheridan from Mayo County Council told the meeting that the council were taking applications up to August 5. The programme assists communities to prepare a five year Community Futures Community Action Plan and the process takes six months approx. The plan is prepared following a detailed consultation process that involves all sectors and residents in the community, working together to plan for their future.
