Minister Simon Coveney has utilised special Ministerial powers to overturn a decision made unanimously by Naas Municipal District on the Sallins Local Area Plan. Under the Planning and Development Act 2000 the Minister reserves the power to issue a direction that the Manager and Members of the Council must comply with.
On Monday the Minister issued a direction on the Sallins Local Area Plan instructing that parts of lands on the Clane Road, Sallins which were proposed to be zoned for community use should instead be zoned for Industry & Warehousing and that adjoining lands zoned for a mix of community, educational and housing should be excluded from the plan altogether so that no development zoning be applied.
Fianna Fáil Councillor for the area Rob Power has criticised the decision.
“The decision by Minister Coveney to issue a Ministerial Directive on the Sallins Plan is a slap in the face for local residents. The original plan approved unanimously by local Councillors would have allocated much needed housing, educational and community amenity spaces for the town” said Cllr Power.
Councillor Power condemned the decision as “an affront to local democracy” saying:
“This process saw an unprecedented 2,148 submissions in favour of the local area plan envisioned by Councillors and approved by local residents. For the Minister to overrule a unanimous Council decision and instruct that a plan be amended contrary to the wishes of local residents is an affront to local democracy at its most basic level.”
“For twenty years the residents of Sallins have seen their town grow in population without the associated growth in community facilities. Here was a perfect opportunity for Kildare County Council to right that wrong and we have been prevented from doing so by the Minister and his department.”
“As a new Councillor, I have been frustrated by the lack of authority that local representatives have. One function which Councillors do have, is that of making and amending a local area plan. When the Minister takes this away you have to wonder what regard for local democracy, if any, this Government has.”
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