Council goes ahead with rezoning plans

Laois County Council has moved ahead with plans to rezone land for almost 10 times the county's housing need.

The rezonings contained in the Draft County Development Plan have been described as "insufferable" by Minister for Environment Dick Roche.

According to the plan, the population of Co Laois is set to grow from 61,277 now to 66,608 in 2011, an increase of 5,331.

The council's housing strategy forecasts that an additional 3,847 new homes would be required over the period.

However, according to Mr Roche, the plan envisages enough land for 34,900 new homes - more than nine times the requirement. At an average household size of 2.81 people, the 34,000 new households would provide for a population of 98,069, more than doubling its population in five years.

The Department of the Environment stood over the projections, saying they were based on figures from Laois County Council. However the inclusion of so much zoned land in the draft plan has angered Mr Roche who last April asked the council to scale back its proposals, particularly in some 30 villages and small towns across the county.

The plans also angered An Taisce and conservationists who said many small towns and villages would be turned into dormitory towns housing Dublin-bound commuters.

Mr Roche said he would find it difficult to fund the infrastructure to support the rezonings.

He wrote to the council in April pointing out the requirement for water, waste water, roads, schools and services. He was also concerned about the impact of the rezonings on regional planning guidelines and the National Spatial Strategy.

In its latest draft of the County Development Plan, the council appears to have ignored Mr Roche's request and, in some cases, has actually increased the amount of zoned land.

In a new letter to the council, Mr Roche has singled out plans for large-scale housing around the villages of Durrow and New Inn which he said adopted "precisely the opposite approach" to that which he had requested.

He said the plans for Durrow in particular would transform "an attractive village of considerable character . . . into a large and amorphous commuter-based dormitory town". Of the plan overall, he said it "does not present a coherent and rational approach".

A Laois County Council spokesman said it was proposed to phase the rezonings