This article is from page 8 of the 2006-04-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
ATTRACTING new staff and maintaining existing personnel at Clare County Council’s planning department, is continuing to prove problematic.
A senior council official has confirmed that between 2002 and 2005, there were a number of vacancies and the full staff complement was rarely in place. There are currently three vacancies.
She also confirmed that the council received €582,105 in planning fees – down on the €1 million received in 2004 and the €941,244 received in 2003.
The drop is attributable to the deluge of applications to the council in 2004 and 2003 from developers seeking to build hotels, holiday homes and other commercial developments, aimed at seeking to take advantage of Government tax incentives.
In the past five years, the council has received €3.5 million in planning fees.
The revelations came in a response from the council’s Director for Planning, Bernadette Kinsella, to a motion by Councillor Christy Curtin (Ind).
As part of a “secret bonus deal last year, the council authorised payments of €112,500, or €7,500 each to 15 planners for unpaid overtime, as the council grappled to deal with the tax-incentive applications.
The number of planning applications lodged last year showed a drop on the numbers lodged in 2003 and 2004, according to the response.
Last year, 2,491 applications were lodged compared to the 2,773 and the 2,857 lodged in 2004 and 2003.