Legal threat to council over Navan area plan

Councillors in Navan are facing a possible legal challenge if they proceed with a local area plan (LAP) for a section of North Navan, it has emerged this week. The move comes as concerns about development delays in Navan continue to monopolise the attention of area county councillors, officials and developers as plans for the future shape of the town await implementation. The Navan Area Council met in private session for almost three hours yesterday (Tuesday) in an attempt to resolve an issue which had arisen regarding one plan, LAP Five, which is centred on north Navan between Proudstown Road/Clonmagadden and the proposed new town park in the Silverlawn area. A decision had been taken by elected members to place LAP Five on public display but a warning this week that a possible legal challenge was in the pipeline led to suspension of the public display this week and forced the councillors to meet in emergency session. The area councillors were told that the local authority had received notification from the legal representative of a major Navan developer of a possible legal challenge to the document. Members heard from legal advisors that the challenge related to the terms of the 2000 Planning and Development Legislation stipulating that LAPs must be adopted not more than two years after adoption of the main development plan. Navan"s current development plan was adopted in 2003. It appears that the legal advice to elected area members was not to proceed with the LAP format as this could lead to an injunction against the local authority with possibly major legal costs. The developers whose legal advisors contacted the local authority to advise of a posssible legal challenge are Big House (a company belonging to Eamon Duignan & Cathal McCarthy). Some weeks ago, council officials put before elected councillors a proposal to deal with the local plans by means of Area Action Plans (AAPs). However, some councillors openly expressed unease at this format on the basis that, while a LAP is a statutory document which must go on public display and be 'signed off" on by elected councillors, an AAP does not fall into that category and does not need to go on public display. Councillors themselves have voiced dismay in the past that development has been held up in the Navan area as local plans remained unconcluded. Should councillors decide to take the AAP option to resolve the issue, the matter would then have to go before the next full meeting of Meath County Council, which takes place in September. Navan Town Manager, Eugene Cummins, was upbeat after the lengthy meeting this week that officials and councillors would be able to conclude the issue satisfactorily. A further special Area Council meeting is scheduled to be held next week. 'I am confident that we will work towards a solution to this and plan for the future development of the town,' said Mr Cummins after the meeting. Last week, Navan Town Councillors met to discuss submissions made for the draft reviewed plan, which must be adopted by late 2009. Councillors, meeting behind closed doors, considered the manager"s report on 39 submissions received in regard to the new draft development plan. The councillors now have 10 weeks in which to consider this report. They have the authority to issue directions to the manager regarding the preparation of the draft plan and, to facilitate this process, extensive workshops will be required during September. Meath County Council and Navan Town Council received 34 written submissions during the display period of the Strategic Issues Paper. Some of the wide range of interests which made submissions were the Menolly Group, on behalf of Tara Mines; Francis Deane, on behalf of Navan Retailers" Association; Eamonn Matthews, on behalf of Church Hill/Fair Green and Environs business interests, and a planning consultant on behalf of Tesco Ireland Ltd. One of north Navan"s landmark buildings, the Round O public house at Flower Hill, is also the subject of a submission. A planning and development consultant submitted that the zoning should be changed to 'provide for and facilitate mixed residential and business uses including a public house'. The consultant"s position is that the optimum form of development for the site would be mixed-use development with commercial activities in the form of a licensed premises/restaurant and several retail/commercial units on the fround floor with residential acomodation on a number of upper floors.