Planner says council in 'learning process'

Pressure from the greater Dublin area has been blamed by Laois County Council senior planner Peter Dolan for development in Killinard and other towns and villages in the county.

The council only had two planners before 2000 and no forward-planning section until 2002, Mr Dolan said. As a result, it was ill-equipped to cope with the pressure created by Dublin's overspill and "an awful lot" of development had been developer-led.

"We're going through the same learning process that Kildare went through 10 years ago. We're now setting up criteria and preparing village plans, though to a certain extent the horse is half-way out through the door."

Asked why so much development had been permitted on unzoned land in Killinard, he said Laois didn't have many tourist attractions and the Heritage leisure complex gave employment and provided sewerage facilities at no expense to the council.

He said it "would have beegrand" to have plans when major development started in the county. There had been an "exponential increase" in planning applications over the past five years. "We're getting applications for 100 or 200 houses in villages with a population of only 150, so we're asking for school and traffic impact reports."

Last February, after the council voted to rezone agricultural land around 29 villages in Laois, farmers "saw euro signs", Mr Dolan said. But one of the main reasons for these zonings was to provide an alternative to one-off houses in rural areas.

It would also bring the villages within the ambit of Part V of the 2000 Planning and Development Act, which requires that up to 20 per cent of residential development on zoned land must be "social and affordable" housing. Hitherto, developers had been evading this.

"We're also trying to control development in the eastern end of the county and encourage it in the western end, where there is such a lack of facilities - such as shops - that some people have to drive 10 miles even to buy a bottle of milk," Mr Dolan said.

He said much would depend on councillors' reactions to the county manager's report on the draft development plan and on submissions from the public. These are to be considered at a meeting on September 12th.