Council faces questions on planning move

A Navan county councillor has said public trust in the planning process in Navan is at stake if a series of questions he has posed to the local authority are not adequately answered. Cllr Shane Cassells has raised detailed questions about the ending of the Local Area Plan (LAP) process in the town and is seeking full details from local authority officials regarding the removal of LAP 5 from public display last month. Cllr Cassells has said that a spotlight needs to be brought to bear on why a process that allowed the public have a say in the future development of their town has been halted as he sought answers this week to 10 questions regarding the the LAP 5 move. Cllr Cassells" questions included the issue of why the local authority did 'not stand up to a legal challenge' from developers that was put to them. He was referring to notification of the Navan Area Council last month of a threat of legal action by Navan developers, Big House (Duignan & McCarthy) relating to the 2000 Planning Act, stipulating the time period for adoption of LAPs. Some of the other questions posed by the Navan area councillor were why councillors had not been informed of the requirements of planning legislation that LAPs be adopted within two years of the Town Development Plan although they had asked in writing for updates on the LAPs; why had the LAP process been scrapped by non-elected officials and why had the council missed the timesframes set down in legislation for implementation of the LAPs. He asked since Duignan & McCarthy in a submission for the review of the town development plan had stated they had draft plans for LAPs One and Two prepared since April 2005, why the council had not progressed them. The areas covered by the former LAPs 1 and 2 are Trim Road and Carriage Road, Navan. His questions follow the removal of LAP 5, a document focusing on future development in the Proudstown Road/Clonmagadden to Silverlawn area of north Navan, from public display in July. Area councillors were told at a meeting that the local authority had been notified of a possible legal challenge to the document. Legal advisors told the meeting this related to the 2000 Planning and Development legislation stipulating that LAPS must be adopted within two years of the adoption of the Development Plan. The current Navan plan was adopted in 2003. A second Navan councillor, Jim Holloway, complained this week that 'what is being denied to both public representatives and the public by the action of the executive in suspending Local Area Plan 5 is the opportunity for the public to have a direct say in how Navan develops'. Cllr Holloway was referring to the requirement that LAPs go on public display. Sinn Fein councillor Joe Reilly also voiced concern that failure to complete the LAPs within the legal timeframe and general failure to implement the Town Development Plan had meant a 'loss of confidence, business and employment opportunities to the people of Navan'. Navan Town Manager Eugene Cummins said yesterday (Tuesday) that, as councillors knew, it was an objective in the Navan Development Plan (2003-"09) to adopt LAPs within a two-year window of the adoption of the plan itself. 'However, once that two-year window had elapsed, the objective of doing LAPs was no longer an option,' said Mr Cummins. He said it must be realised that Meath in the last 10 years had had 53,000 people coming in to live and work in the county. 'Officials concentrated and used all their resources in relation to planning for and servicing the needs of these new inhabitants. Invariably, in a time of such unprecedented growth with diminishing resources, as Cllr Holloway frequently refers to, and the losing of staff to the private sector, it was not possible to meet all the objectives of the Development Plan, 2003-"09.' He vowed to continue to work with elected representatives and also with all stakeholders and landowners, particularly those who were willing to and able to invest in much-needed infrastructure, retail outlets and high-quality developments which would allow Navan to compete competitively with its neighbours. Cllr. Cassells, in a reaction to the statement from Mr Cummins this week, described the statement as 'waffley'. Meanhile, the landowners in the Trim Road and Carriage Road areas, Big House, in a statement (see below for full text) said the law, as enacted by the Oireachtas, was quite specific. The 2003 Navan and Environs Development Plan as enacted by the councils of which Cllrs Cassells and Holloway were and are members also was quite specific. LAPs had to be adopted within two years of the date of the development plan. 'The Navan Development Plan was adopted in November 2003; it"s now August 2008,' said the statement. The Big House statement referred to substantial investments by the company in Navan over the past 15 years, some at a time when the town was not as strong as it was now, assisting in creation of hundreds of sustainable jobs. It said that the company"s plans for the Trim Road/Carriage Road would result in an additional investment in excess of €700 million. 'Our plans provide for the possibility of the Navan-Dublin rail link and will provide extra jobs, extra facilities and services for Navan and Meath,' it added.