On 11 July the Clare County Council finally acknowledged, after seven years, that the proposed development at Mullaghmore is in contravention of the County Development Plan. They published a notice in the Irish Independent newspaper announcing the proposed material contravention and giving the public three weeks in which to send in their comments to the council planning section. The Burren Action Group promptly informed its members by post of the Clare County Councils intentions and urged them to submit their comments. The County Councillors were to vote on the material contravention at their first meeting in September. This was later deferred to 10 November for reasons given below.
A County Development Plan is a public and legal document that details planning policy for each county. It is drawn up by County Planners in consultation with the County Councillors and the public. Where the County Planners feel that a proposed development contravenes the County Development Plan they must publish a notice to this effect in the a newspaper. They must also inform, in writing, anyone that has submitted written comments to the county's planning section about the proposed development.
In order to allow the granting of planning permissision for a development which contravenes the County Development Plan two thirds of the County Councillors must vote to pass the motion of material contravention.
While the Clare County Council published a notice in the Irish Independent newspaper on 11 July that they intended voting on a material contravention for the Mullaghmore development and asking for public submissions they failed to inform each of the objectors in writing of this intention. The Burren Action Group immediately pointed this omission out to the Clare County Council. They responded by republishing the notice in the Irish Independent and informing all objectors (and there are several hundred) in writing of their intention to vote on the material contravention. The public were given three more weeks in which to send in their comments. The vote was postponed until 10 November.
There was some initial reluctance in the Clare County Council Planning Office to allow access to the file containing public submissions on the proposed material contravention. They are now freely available. There were 206 objections to the material contravention made on foot of the July notice in the papers. Another file has been opened to accommodate new submissions made on foot of the second notice.
The vote on the material contravention is now scheduled for 10 November. Twenty-four of the thirty-two County Councillors must vote in favour if it is to pass. There are several of the County Councillors who have always supported the position of the Burren Action Group. If 9 members of the County Council abstain or vote against the motion it falls. If this happens it seems likely that the application for planning permission for the Mullaghmore development would be withdrawn. This would open the way for work to begin on a sentient plan for provision of access to and the protection of the Burren.
If the Clare County Council votes to allow the material contravention then it is likely that planning permission will be granted for the development. The Burren Action Group will then appeal the decision to An Bord Pleanala, the planning appeals body. The Bord rejected the planning permission granted by Wicklow County Council to the National Parks and Wildlife Service for the visitor centre for the Wicklow National Park at Luggala. It must be hoped that they would reject the plans for the Mullaghmore facility on similar grounds.
In their planning application the National Parks and Wildlife Service have linked the nature and scale of the proposed development of village based centres to the granting of planning permission for the development at Mullaghmore. Their pursuit of planning permission there has delayed all development of facilities to assist visitors in their enjoyment of the Burren and is denying local communities the economic benefits to which they should be entitled.
Let us hope that the County councillors bear this in mind when it comes to the vote!
The Clare County Development Plan dates from 1988 and a new version is due "soon". It has nor been revised as yet to include recent designations which apply to the Burren such as the Natural Heritage Areas or the candidate Special Area of Conservation under the European Habitats Directive (Regulations 1997). There is still an obligation on the part of Clare County Council to take these designations into account when considering the Mullaghmore proposal.
The County Development Plan aspires to "prohibit development within those areas specified as being of outstanding amenity value.." (p.32) and "to prohibit development in undeveloped areas of the Burren, where such development would be obtrusive in the landscape, and would detract from the area's remote quality." (p.36). The Mullaghmore proposal would definitely contravene the County Development Plan in these areas.
The officials of the planning department have not stated which aspects of the County Development Plan the Mullaghmore development would contravene. For them to do so would make a useful contribution to the quality of public debate on the issue.