Zoning issue has 'cost Ballina up to 500 houses'
Senator Mark Duffy raised the issue.
Fine Gael Senator Mark Duffy has called for the Seanad to raise a commencement matter with the Minister for Housing James Browne over land zoning for housing in local area plans.
Senator Duffy’s former council colleagues in the Ballina Municipal District were told at last week’s area meeting that the Minister rejected all of the submissions councillors had made to the Ballina Local Area Plan, leading to councillors calling for an urgent meeting with the Minister.
Speaking in the Seanad last Tuesday, Senator Duffy said Ballina has been set back massively by the Minister’s rejection of the councillors' recommendations.
“A local area plan for Ballina was signed off on last week but all of the recommendations of the local councillors were rejected. This means Ballina has been set back by approximately 400 to 500 houses,” he said.
“The Northern and Western Regional Assembly identified that Mayo was delivering on 30% of its housing target, based on land zoned, so we need to increase drastically the amount of land zoned, by three times at least, just to ensure we keep up with demand.”
Senator Duffy said he would like to raise a commencement matter on this with the Minister, adding that a cooling-off period for the Minister to reconsider the sign-offs or a judicial review would be welcome.
“If we do not address it, it will create huge problems across society. I ask that the Minister for Housing come here to address this,” he said.
His comments were supported by Wicklow-based Senator Pat Casey.
“In every one of the counties I visited in respect of the previous plans, every one of the councillors made proposals for the zoning of land,” he said. “It was national policy and the Office of the Planning Regulator that prevented all those lands being zoned. It was because of national policy.
“To come now and try to blame councillors and county council officials for not being proactive in land zoning is completely disrespectful.”
