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Development
plan falls short on housing
The
Minister for the Environment has told Dun Laoghaire
Rathdown County Council that its draft county development
plan does not meet the housing requirements for the
county.
In a letter to the county manager, Minister Martin Cullen
said that land proposed for residential zoning is inadequate
for the life time of the plan and, therefore, does not
comply with the Planning and Development Act 2000.
He urged the council to amend the plan to ensure enough
land is zoned for residential development.
Councillors in DLRCC have been defending their decision
not to rezone land recommended by the county manager
such as that at Ballinclea Heights and Dun Laoghaire
Golf Course.
Declan McCulloch, senior executive officer in DLRCC
planning department said that councillors will now have
to take cognizance of the minister’s comments.
“We
pointed out quite clearly that the draft plan was not
in accordance with the housing strategy and we were
absolutely correct,” the spokesman said. “The
draft plan is deficient and they will have to make sure
that sufficient land is zoned.”
He said that if the plan goes forward and is accepted
in its current form by the council, its validity would
be in jeopardy.
“We
don’t have an option but to rezone more land,”
he said.
Mr McCulloch said that he could not preempt which lands
councillors would choose to rezone.
“We
have made certain recommendations to the council,”
he said. “If councillors are not going to accept
those, suitable real proposals will have to be put forward.”
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