A councillor has criticised Mayo County Council over a lack of action in seeking the designation of the former Asahi plant and adjoining lands outside of Killala as a Strategic Development Zone.
The designation was included as an objective of the Mayo County Development Plan and Fine Gael Cllr Jarlath Munnelly put forward a motion at yesterday’s council meeting seeking information on what progress is being made.
However, the response from council planners does not give much hope that the designation will proceed.
The Strategic Development Zone designation is to be replaced by Urban Development Zones following a government review. The local authority says it is not clear if the Asahi site will fall under the remit of an Urban Development Zone under the new legislation.
The council said it can take years to bring a Strategic Development Zone to fruition, citing that it effectively took a decade to bring Ireland West Airport to that stage.
The council said at the time of the drawing up of the County Development Plan it could not have been foreseen that a new Act would revise the concept of Strategic Development Zones to the extent we are seeing now.
Mr Munnelly said Mayo County Council should be prioritising the site as an important development zone for north Mayo. He said there are a number of live applications, including a data centre, for the area.
“I’m a bit disappointed by the council response, to say the least. Mayo County Council should really be getting behind a site like that. We have an opportunity to make it a site that can create jobs and the county council is not being proactive enough,” Mr Munnelly said.
He called on the local authority to create a master plan for the site, akin to what occurred as part of the airport designation.
“That’s the kind of work that I want to see happening.”
The Killala councillor said this would also help any prospective companies seeking to invest in the area.
“The problem here is Mayo County Council, not external bodies. That site has lots of potential and we haven’t fulfilled that potential,” Mr Munnelly said. “The answer I have received is that ‘we aren’t going to do anything’. That’s not acceptable.”
