This article is from page 10 of the 2005-10-25 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
CONCERN has been expressed over a Clare County Council move to rezone an estimated 300 acres of land for commercial development on the outskirts of Ennis that contains EU pro- tected habitats.
In adopting the Ennis and Environs Devel- opment Plan, the Council along with Ennis Town Council rezoned land in the Doora area for commercial development that generated massive windfalls for the owners of the lands in question.
However, the lands which are subject of the rezonings are designated as areas of ecologi-
cal constraint in the published Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the €190 million Ennis by-pass.
The lands contain protected fen and the Marsh Fritillary and the Frog bit plants that are also protected species.
Asked if the Council had all the facts in re- lation to the lands when they were rezoned, the Council’s Director for Planning, Mr Liam Conneally said, “at the time of the adoption of zoning in the Ennis and Environs Development Plan, the information available to the Planning Authorities was relied upon to determine the appropriate zoning of land. At all stages of making the plan, Duchas were informed.
“All land constitutes some type of habitat and the importance of that habitat at a lo- cal, regional, or national level is only known where sufficient survey and analysis has taken place. The National Fen Survey carried out by the National Parks and Wildlife Service in 2001 did not make a detailed assessment of the Doora area and any information concern- ing any potential habitat value that existed was therefore not available.
“The Development Plan is constantly moni- tored and reviewed and where necessary vari- ations to the Development Plan will be carried out. The body now responsible for the protec- tion of nationally important habitats is the
National Parks and Wildlife Service and any recommendations made by them regarding the conservation of key habitats will be taken into PTO)
However, Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) said, “‘it doesn’t appear that due consideration was giv- en to the lands being areas of ecological con- straint and questions still have to be answered concerning the rezoning.
“The uncertainty over the issue would not have arisen if the new Strategic Environmen- tal Assessment Directive was in place at that time, which would have investigated in a much more comprehensive way the presence of these protected habitats in the lands in question.”