Councillors seek more time to review controversial Tipperary rezoning proposals
Councillors in Tipperary have paused a decision on what land across the county should be zoned for housing after a debate raised questions about what lands would be zoned for what uses.
A special workshop will now be held before councillors vote later this month on whether to adopt the proposals.
Tipperary County Council has been working on a variation to the county development plan, which would see more sites in towns across the county zoned for housing in an attempt to alleviate the housing crisis.
The plans went out for public consultation, with landowners invited to nominate sites for housing zoning.
At the June plenary meeting of the council, executive planner Fergal O’Donnell said that the 40 councillors across Tipperary would be able to vote on whether to adopt the recommendations in the chief executive’s report.
Following a presentation from Mr O’Donnell, independent councillor for Nenagh Seamie Morris said that there were things raised in the report that he had never seen.
“We had a meeting with the planner looking to zone extra land in the Nenagh Municipal District (MD) area, and I assumed it would have come back to us with the management report, I was wrong about that. There’s 176 pages of a report, there’s stuff in here that I haven’t seen before,” he said.
“I’m looking at a submission here from Tipperary County Council to zone land which has a water tower on it, it’s part of the structure of Nenagh.
“The locals know nothing about it, I was talking to some of the councillors over the weekend and they knew nothing about it, and that’s something I wouldn’t want to happen,” Cllr Morris said.
The water tower is “part of the social fabric” of Nenagh, the independent councillor added, saying that the town’s former military barracks would be a better site for house building.
“There’s a massive site in the middle of town called the military barracks, it’s owned by the Department of Defence, they’ve offered it to the council for €1, but we won’t take it, we’re deciding to take out a water tower that’s part of the fabric of Nenagh,” he said.
Cllr Morris also raised the case of a local man who worked with the council to have his land zoned so that he could build homes for his children. A number of years ago, his last plot of land was dezoned, meaning he couldn’t build a home for his son who has a number of medical conditions.
“I’m looking to have this land stay the same as it was before this process. It’s not someone that’s a speculator by any means, he has one son left who needs to be helped and I feel that this plot of land should go back the way it was,” Cllr Morris said.
Cllr Morris also said that a lot of issues were being raised at workshops, which were hard for councillors who have a job outside of being a councillor, to attend.
In response, Mr O’Donnell said that the proposal to use the water tower was made on behalf of the Nenagh MD, and would constitute a better use of lands which are underutilised.
“The district don’t see a future use for those lands and housing is considered to be an effective use,” he said.
“We’ve done a review and considered that they are appropriate lands to be zoned for residential use,” Mr O’Donnell added.
Fine Gael councillor John Crosse said that while he understands where Cllr Morris is coming from, a lot of work has gone into the zoning proposals, and that the changes should be adopted.
Fellow-Nenagh MD councillor Phyll Bugler said that she didn’t feel like she had enough time to raise issues during the process, while Thurles-based councillor Jim Ryan said he felt an opportunity had been missed for the village of Littleton.
“I’m disappointed, there was a submission sent in about the rezoning of lands in Littleton village, and I genuinely feel that this is a lost opportunity for the village,” he said.
Independent councillor Micheál Lowry said that the council “missed the boat” on a lot of sites, and couldn’t understand why the council weren’t going to rezone land outside Thurles that already has an unfinished housing estate on it.
“There was a submission in Thurles in relation to the lands around Hayfield Manor, and again, it was ruled that it wasn’t suitable for a variety of reasons, but the reality is, we granted planning permission on that site, it’s an unfinished estate,” Cllr Lowry said.
“It’s the only one remaining in Thurles. I’m saying here that that land needs to be part of this process going forward. There’s no way that in good conscience that any councillor in the Thurles area can leave an unfinished estate like that sitting outside of this process when we have been tasked with zoning land that will deliver houses,” he added.
Senior planner Anne-Marie Devaney said that villages like Littleton would be looked at as part of the process further down the line, and said that in relation to the Hayfield Manor site, there are more suitable sites closer to the town that could deliver homes.
“In assessing land, we have to look at concentric development, compact growth and what land needs to come first and as part of that, we do a serviced land assessment.
“There are lands that are closer to the town, achieve the principles of compact growth better than this particular site does, and while I appreciate there are legacy issues, on this site, it is zoned for strategic reserve. Should land that meet the compact growth and concentric development come forward, then they can be considered as strategic reserve,” Ms Devaney said.
Issues with water services across the county were also mentioned during the course of the lengthy debate, with independent councillor Liam Browne saying that towns like Tipperary town will never see any new homes built until issues with the water supply are sorted by Uisce Éireann.
Chief executive of Tipperary County Council Sinead Carr said that it is important the councillors are comfortable with any decision they make on the proposals, and added that the issue could be deferred for another month so that the elected members could thrash out their issues at a workshop.
“This is one of the key areas that members have a decision-making authority on, so it’s important that you’re comfortable with the decisions,” she said.
“This is an interim process, this is not the final case, this is a holding process until such time that we’re able to prepare the 10 year county development plan. There will be other opportunities to look at it in a context of a 10 year timeframe,” Ms Carr said.
It was decided that a workshop will be held so that councillors can work through any issues that have been raised, and that a decision on whether to adopt the rezoning plans will be deferred for a special meeting later this month.
The plans will then go back out for public consultation, with councillors being asked again to vote on whether to rezone the lands at their September meeting.