MINISTER FOR the Environment John Gormley has been urged to intervene over aspects of Galway’s new development plan.
Former Galway mayor Cllr Catherine Connolly (Ind) and Cllr Hildegarde Naughton (Fine Gael) have called on Mr Gormley to examine the draft plan, which was adopted by councillors on Monday night.
Both have said that “serious questions” have been raised over the motivation of a majority of councillors to rezone city lands from industrial to commercial development.
The draft plan is subject to a four-week consultation on amendments. It is due to come into effect on February 16th, 2011.
Former Fine Gael mayor Cllr Brian Walsh has also said there is“no justification” for some of the rezonings passed.
The successful rezoning votes which were recorded late last week in the lead-up to Monday night’s final meeting on the draft had been taken against the advice of acting city manager Ciarán Hayes and senior planners, Ms Connolly said.
Some 308 submissions were made in response to the new draft city plan for 2011-2017.
“Many of the changes sought were uncontroversial . . . for example, the submissions from the Galway City Forum and various residents’ organisations and cycle groups,” Ms Connolly said.
However, she described as “shocking and appalling” a decision by several councillors from three main parties to vote in favour of rezoning lands from industrial to commercial, which would, in effect, “take the heart out of the city centre”.
“The city manager and planners repeatedly pointed out that there was no planning reason for changing the zoning . . . and that rezoning would endanger the viability of the city centre,” Ms Connolly said.
The planners had also argued that a substantial number of empty buildings on commercial lands was a further justification against rezoning, she said.
More than 20 acres had been rezoned from industrial to commercial last week, she said. This was in addition to 100 acres of land already rezoned from industrial to commercial since the last plan became law, she said. “Undoubtedly the matter will now be sent to the Minister of Environment for his urgent consideration,” she said.
Ms Naughton, who was elected to the local authority last year and broke away from the voting pact involving Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and former PD councillors (now Independent) earlier this year, said that a central platform of her campaign was her concern with “anomalies in the planning process in Galway city council”.
She added: “Unfortunately, since my election these concerns have not been resolved . . . It is poor planning decisions like these . . . that have helped fuel a property bubble that brought this country to its knees.”
