CITY TRIBUNE

Oranhill park plan falls flat

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Local campaigners wanted the land to be transformed into Oranhill Park, with a variety of play areas and space for community events, exercise and education classes, gardening and allotments.

A warning of the potential for legal action – and possibly even a judicial review of the County Development Plan – led Galway County Councillors to change their minds on plans to rezone land in Oranhill, Oranmore.

After a lengthy debate at their meeting last week, councillors voted to keep the land zoned ‘Residential Phase 1’ as per the Draft Galway County Development Plan 2022-28.

This was accepting the advice of Chief Executive Jim Cullen and the Office of Planning Regulator.

It was also a reversal of the decision elected members had made at meetings in December and January, when they voted to zone the land Open Space/Recreation and Amenity.

That rezoning followed a series of public meetings and a campaign by residents in Oranhill, which was lacking in recreational space and amenities.

When councillors voted to rezone the land away from Residential, they did so when it was in the ownership of the State, through NAMA.

But Valerie Loughnane, Executive Planner, confirmed to the latest Council meeting that since then, the land was sold to a private developer.

That developer had bought the land with planning permission for houses and intended to build them.

She warned councillors that a commencement notice had been issued, which was valid, the builder was on-site last week, and there was a live planning permission for houses on that site up to 2026.

Ms Loughnane warned elected members that if they followed through on the Open Space/R&A rezoning, then Galway County Council’s development plan could be the subject of a judicial review. She cited a case in Meath, where the local authority was facing five judicial reviews over its county development plan, including one rezoning decision which was very similar to the Oranhill site.

The meeting heard that the sale from NAMA to the developer went through in March.

Mr Cullen said that nobody could be certain what would happen if they voted against his advice but he warned it created a risk of legal action.

If that happened, the County Council staff would be in a position where they would be forced to defend something in court that they did not support.

Cllr Martina Kinnane (FF) said the site was idle for 18 years, and the people of Oranhill were crying out for facilities. “Not one swing or any play facilities have been provided in those 18 years,” she said.

Cllr PJ Murphy (FG) said he voted with Cllr Kinnane earlier this year on this rezoning, “but since then all has changed, changed utterly”.

It was owned by NAMA, but it is now owned by a private developer, planning permission was in place, and a valid commencement notice was issued, he said.

Nearly every councillor who spoke said that Oranhill needed recreation and amenity, and planners agreed, but many councillors who voted for the rezoning earlier this year, said they did so because it was owned by the State, through NAMA.

Cllr Tom Curran (RSF) said NAMA had “reneged” and should not have sold the land.

But Ms Loughanne said that NAMA was set up to bailout banks during the crash; as a result of that, it got lands, which it had a duty to manage, including sell, in the best interests of getting a maximum return for taxpayers.

Mr Cullen said there was “no justification” to remove the Residential Phase 1 zoning, and he advised councillors to revert to that zoning.

Cllr Kinnane proposed a motion, seconded by Cllr Geraldine Donoghue (Ind), to reject that recommendation but it was defeated. Eleven voted for her proposal (to rezone it Open Space/R&A) 19 voted against, and there were eight abstentions.

Meanwhile, later in the meeting, Councillors Kinnane and Donohue voted in favour of rezoning land in Oranmore from Open Space/Recreational and Amenity to Residential Phase 2, which Cllr Jimmy McClearn (FG) said was “contradictory” to their previous position.

Cllr McClearn, from Portumna, said he did not know the area but it seemed to him, from the earlier debate, that Oranhill needed recreational land not more residential land. “I recognise a contradiction when I see it,” he said.

Both Councillors Kinnane and Donohue denied this and outlined their reasons for voting to rezone the parcel of land from Open Space/Recreation and Amenity to Residential Phase 2, which only comes into play when all Residential Phase 1 lands are developed or unavailable.

Cllr Kinnane said the site was “too far” from Oranhill but Cllr Liam Carroll (FG) said the site in question was “less than 100 metres” from the site in Oranhill that they had debated earlier.

He said it “would be an advantage” to retain it as Open Space/R&A and could be used to build recreation facilities for the people living in Oranhill.

Cllr Alastair McKinstry (Green) insisted that Oranhill “needs recreational and amenity lands”.

Cllr Kinnane’s proposal, to reject the recommendation of the CE and OPR, and to rezone the Open Space/R&A lands to Residential Phase 2, was passed with 20 votes in favour, eleven against, four abstentions and three councillors’ votes were not recorded.

 

 

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