Cllrs to push to have dezoned lands utilised for housing
Paul Murphy
A fresh attempt is to be made to have dezoned lands in Meath put back into play for the building of new homes to beat the housing crisis.
The issue will come before the next meeting of the county council by way of a notice of motion submitted by Independent Cllr Brian Fitzgerald.
This motion had already appeared on the county council’s agenda in November last year. It said: “Due to the ever increasing housing crisis, compounded by the huge increase in population as outlined in the preliminary census report, this meeting of Meath County Council calls for all residential lands (regarded as post-2019 lands), that were dezoned or their period extended in the current County Development plan, be reinstated by means of a variation, subject to the approval by Minister Darragh O’Brien who is continuously stating that no such lands should be dezoned”.
That motion was debated at the November meeting and while it got considerable support from council members but fell short of the three quarters of the 40 councillors needed to initiate a motion requesting the council chief executive to initiate a process to vary the county development plan.
Minister of State Peter Burke said after the November meeting of the Meath council that while it was the reserved function of councillors to adopt or vary their county development plan, the decision to initiate the statutory process of varying a development plan is an executive (official) function.
He said that members may submit a resolution to the chief executive of the council to request a report on a proposal to initiate a process to consider the variation of a development plan, however that motion needs the support of three quarters of the councillors.
If the motion is passed, the chief executive is required to prepare a report on the proposed variation within four weeks and if the chief executive considers the proposal is not justified, she must outline her reasons in writing.
Cllr Fitzgerald said at the weekend that it now more important than ever to release lands for housing in the county. There was an outstanding need to vary the county development plan and no time should be lost in pushing forward with that variation, he said.
His new notice of motion to go before the next meeting of the council at the end of this month now reads: “Further to the motion adopted by the members of Meath County Council on 14th November 2022 and on subsequent advi ce of the Minister responsible for planning, Minister Burke ‘The Members of Meath County Council are requesting the Chief Executive to initiate the statutory process to consider the variation of the County Development Plan in line with the adopted said motion and in accordance with the Planning Guidelines issued on 1st July 2022 with particular reference to the de-zoning of serviced lands.’