This article is from page 4 of the 2006-03-28 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
A NEW service which will allow people seeking planning permission to get advice from council officials has just been set up. Experts in planning on the council’s staff can now advise applicants on whether their site is suitable, before prospective homebuilders spend a fortune.
Many people who submit applications fall at the first hurdle when they discover that their site is not suitable for building. If other basic requirements are not met, the exercise of applying for planning permission can become a costly one.
Planning officials last week told a meeting of councillors from the Scariff area that the new pre-planning service was been made available to applicants and details of how to avail of it would be posted on the Clare County Council website in the next couple of weeks.
“What we want people to do is provide us with the most detailed location map they can and as much information about the application as possible at that early stage,” a spokesman for the planning section of the council said.
“We can then at least advise them on what they need, or whether there are any special considerations concerning the site they have chosen. And all of the details of pre-planning meetings will now be recorded on a file, so that the details of the meetings will be retained even if the planning personnel change”.
The spokesman added that while giving a pre-planning to every applicant would probably not be possible at this stage, it was hoped that with the addition of two replacement planning staff next month, the section would have more resources.
The service was free and applications would either be given a meeting or a written reply on their enquiry, depending on which was most suitable, a spokesman said.
Details will be posted on the council’s Website in the next two weeks.
Cllr Pat Hayes (FF) welcomed the new service, which he said could save applicants costly mistakes and a lot of time.
“But I would hope that where written answers are provided, the information will be clearly stated. I have seen some letters sent to applicants and even though I know something about the planning process, I couldn’t understand it. It can be very difficult for people to understand the terms used in planning matters.”