'The plan is an ass’

Calls have been made for a review of a policy in the new Tipperary County Development Plan, less than a year after the plan's adoption.

The June meeting of Tipperary Co Council heard of problems encountered by the providers of a local creche seeking planning permission to extend the facility. The issue led to Cllrs Noel Coonan, Joe Hannigan, Eddie Moran and Michael Smith submitting a joint notice of motion.

They called on the council to review its policy for small rural enterprises in the countryside, as set out in the County Development Plan 2022. They claimed that the policy is having an adverse impact on the future of families engaged in rural enterprise.

Cllr Smith said he would not have supported the new County Development Plan if he had known it would lead to such problems. He pointed out that the plan is a six-year blueprint and said the setback encountered by the creche developers would be repeated elsewhere in the county.

“Accept that we got it wrong,” Cllr Smith said in appealing for a review of the policy. “If there are issues, there should be a way of fixing it without having an adverse impact on rural Tipperary, because that's not what I signed up for.”

Cllr Coonan said parents living in rural areas are being expected to bring their children into town as an “unintended consequence” of the new development plan. Citing the “law is an ass” maxim, Cllr Coonan said the development plan policy would have to be reviewed if it is going to lead to refusals of planning permission.

“If the plan is an ass then we are the donkeys that got it wrong and we need to fix it,” he said.

It should be a priority for the council to support childcare facilities, especially in light of the downgrading of services in rural Ireland, Cllr Coonan opined.

Cllr Hannigan said planners are “snookered” in having to adhere to policies set out in the development plan. He asked if there is any mechanism available to the council through which the plan could be changed.

CRECHE WAITING LIST

Several other councillors spoke in support of the motion, including Cllr Shane Lee, who said one creche in Roscrea has a waiting list of 12-15 months before any more children can be taken on. The new development plan has become an obstacle to creating more childcare spaces, he said.

Senior Executive Planner Anne Marie Devaney pointed out that the new plan is only 10 months old. A lot of work went into the policy in question and this is the only issue that has arisen.

The policy is on the whole supportive of rural development, Ms Devaney said.

Planning applications must meet specific criteria in relation to traffic, environment and techincal issues.

Any amendment of the policy would require a variation of the County Development Plan, and Ms Devanney was happy to work with councillors towards this end if a review is required. She said she would be citing examples where difficulties arose with other developments but were successfully resolved.

The entire county development plan would in any event be reviewed after two years.

Chief Executive Joe MacGrath commented that “the ink is barely dry” on the new County Development Plan, which he maintained is well-disposed towards rural enterprise. Issues can always arise around the likes of location, scale and access.

Mr MacGrath said he is very familiar with the planning application in question and that it and other applications would be assessed on individual merit to see if there are issues in need of redress. But he said the difficulty referred to relates to a “very small number of cases”.

Cllr Coonan rejoined that the issue in question “shouldn't have happened”.

“I ask management to bring forward proposals to ensure this does not happen again in rural Ireland,” he concluded.