A number of planning decisions in Wicklow have given rise to controversy. They include: At Valleymount: On February 3rd, the council circulated five detailed reasons why a bungalow and septic tank, the subject of a planning application from local woman Ms Emer Geoghegan, should not be allowed on a site overlooking a lake at Baltyboys in west Wicklow.
The reasons cited related to council policy against "sporadic development" in a special control area fronting on to Poulaphouca Lake, health issues related to the septic tank and watercourses and road safety. Within months, however, planning permission was granted to another couple for a house in the same field. At Tinode: According to a planning audit carried out by Blessington Community Council earlier this year, 53 separate planning applications were approved on lands adjacent to a one kilometre stretch of the N11 at Tinode/Hempstown. The permissions cover the period between October 1989 and March of this year and were granted while it was State and county policy not to approve developments which opened on to national roads.
In the same period, along a stretch of the N81, as the council was approving planning permission for some locals, 33 planning applications, many again put forward by local people, were rejected by the council, citing the State and county policy against such developments.
Meanwhile, the council has come up with a plan for a bypass of the area which would cost the taxpayers £3.5 million.
Near Roundwood: In the Wicklow Hills at Tomdarragh, near Roundwood, Mr Terry Dixon was refused permission for a house for his son on a 30-acre deer farm. The council said the area was not a settlement area and the proposed dwelling would be injurious to the amenities of the district.
Within months, however, a house was developed across the road from the Dixons' gate. Another has since been developed about 50 yards away.
At Glen Ding: The former county manager, Mr Blaise Treacy, who stepped down earlier this year, was involved in a number of controversies. In 1996, he refused to give planning files about land at Glen Ding to his council chairman, Mr Tommy Cullen. The files related to planning permission for quarrying.
Mr Cullen took the manager and the council to the High Court (using his home as security for costs) and won his case. Later Mr Val Cosgrove of Wicklow made a complaint to the local government auditor that Mr Treacy was wrong in using council funds to defend the case. A decision from the auditor is still pending. If it goes against Mr Treacy, he may be asked to repay the council's expenses.