New policy directives can 'ease' Mayo housing crisis
Cllr Damien Ryan
Members of Claremorris-Swinford Municipal District have said new directives from the Government around planning regulations must be used as an opportunity to ease the housing crisis in Mayo.
Cathaoirleach Cllr Damian Ryan raised the matter at last week's meeting of councillors when he said that the new Minister for Housing James Browne was instructing councillors to "put in the land we were not allowed to zone a few years ago". Describing the previous situation as "bureaucracy gone mad", Cllr Ryan said: "We were capped with the numbers we could put in in our towns and villages but now there will be a relaxation of boundaries to support the development of housing and that is where the power has to come back to the public representatives. We are also told to go back and change our local area plans and to do it in an ambitious timetable, by the end of October.
"I think the emphasis will be on land that is serviced, with some understanding for active farmers if they can prove their link to the land and housing. So there will be some opportunity for us here. However, this also shows a regulator and office that is out of touch and I think the full power for housing should be given back to the council.”
Cllr Ryan added: “Time and again we have zoned sites in our towns but nothing has happened with them. They need to come with a levy now, use them or lose them, because that is what is holding back things in our towns.”
Cllr Michael Burke said he recently spoke with Minister for State John Cummins and got the impression that there will be "some big changes" in relation to zoning lands for housing.
Cllr Richard Finn said there has been "centralised decision-making" for the last 20 or 30 years.
"We have seen it down through the years where this has left people without much in the West of Ireland. We can have emergency legislation for everything else, but we cannot for planning, where we can bring about and solve our own homelessness problem in this county.”
Cllr Ryan added: “In fairness to Minister Browne, he has moved on this and has given us power and flexibility and we certainly need to rezone more.”
