Council to 'freeze' zoned land in Ennis

CLARE COUNTY Council is set to “freeze” more than 4,000 acres from development in response to Department of Environment concerns on “unjustified and unsustainable” overzoning.

The move means that during the lifetime of the current development plan to 2014, no housing development would take place on 4,171 acres of land zoned for housing around Ennis.

The local authority was given a deadline of last Friday, October 16th, to address the overzoning in the Ennis Development Plan only months after it was adopted.

The council has agreed to overhaul its development plan after the department warned that if it did not address the overzoning, Minister for the Environment John Gormley would be forced to direct the council to make the necessary changes to the adopted plan with immediate effect.

Arising from the adoption of the plan, the department has said that there are 4,500 acres of zoned land around Ennis to cater for a population increase of 100,000. The Ennis area has a population of 28,700 and official forecasts state that there will be a population increase of only 6,300 to 2020.

In response, the council’s senior planner, Gordon Daly, has now written to the department to confirm that the council will vary its Ennis Development Plan.

In his letter, Mr Daly says: “The proposed draft variation now under preparation will therefore seek to address the concerns of the Minister in relation to overzoning by introducing a phasing plan for residentially zoned lands that is reflective of current Department of Environment population targets for the hub town of Ennis.

“It will also seek to address the concerns raised by the department in relation to the appropriate assessment and housing policy in the countryside as they relate to the current plan.”

Mr Daly said the target date for the variation of the plans was the November or December meetings of the county council and the town council. Following these meetings, the changes to the plan will be published to allow the public make submissions.

In a memo to councillors, he said the department was of the view that “there is clearly a very substantial, unjustified and unsustainable amount of overzoning of land with residential potential”.

Mr Daly said the department’s preference to overcome the overzoning was the unzoning of a substantial amount of land.

He added that the department was open to a locally based solution which involved no unzoning.

Instead, the council has identified 187 acres during the lifetime of the plan for housing; this is in addition to a further 142 acres with permissions for 1,596 homes.