Clare council housing policy criticised

Clare County Council has been accused of promoting the depopulation of areas in Co Clare already in decline by rural rights campaigner, Mr Jim Connolly.

The director of Rural Resettlement Ireland, Mr Connolly made the charge as figures released by the council yesterday show that the number of one-off houses in the countryside refused planning permission last year in Co Clare rose by one third over the numbers in 2001.

The rise of 33 per cent in refusals prompted Mr Connolly to claim that "there is no future for rural communities unless council management reverse policies that are having a terrible impact on rural communities and there is no sign of them doing that." Mr Connolly cited the council figures showing planning refusals for one-off houses in north and west Clare accounted for 50 per cent of all refusals to one-off housing last year in the county.

Securing planning permission in these areas is made difficult through planning restrictions associated with the Burren and the Clare coastline, all of which are designated "visually vulnerable" in the Clare County Development Plan.

The figures published by the council yesterday show that 248 applications for one-off housing were refused in the county last year, compared to 187 for 2001.

A review of these designations is underway, however independent councillor, Christy Curtin said the figures should send out alarm bells and Mr Connolly said "I am not surprised by the figures. In pre-planning queries lodged by RRI, seven out of eight housing proposals for the Loop Head peninsula were shot down by the council."

The figures show houses negatively impacting on areas designated "visually vulnerable" accounted for 25 per cent of refusal reasons, while the council's contentious "non-local" policy accounted for 14 per cent of planning refusal reasons. The figures show that last year, the council granted planning to 701 one-off houses across Clare.

The release of the statistics follows the adoption by the council of the West Clare Development Plan last week which Mr Connolly claims will transform the area "into a green desert devoid of people".

In a bid to relax planning restrictions, councillors are expected to table a number of material changes to the development plan at the next council meeting after councillors failed in an 11th bid to make drastic changes to the west Clare plan when county manager, Mr Alec Fleming said that such a move would be illegal.