People power wins out in Irishtown

After pressure from residents, Westmeath's county councillors have decided to rezone a plot of land in Mullingar that had been earmarked for residential development.

The 15.4 hectare parcel of land in Irishtown had originally been rezoned open space in the draft county development plan, but councillors subsequently decided to reverse its previous decision.

The councillors decision was criticised by local election candidate Chris Murtagh (FG), and local residents, who submitted almost 190 submission calling on the local authority to reverse its decision. Outlining the reason for his opposition, Mr Murtagh said that the councillors went against "all expert advice" and "the last thing we need is another development 300 to 400 houses in the area".

According to a submission made to the council by department of the environment, rezoning the land residential was not “consistent” with planning guidelines. The department also raised concerns that developing the land in question could increase the risk of flooding in the vicinity.

Speaking at the March council meeting held on Monday, Cllr Mick Dollard said that the high number of submissions indicated that “the people that live in the area are very much opposed to more houses being foisted on them”. The Labour man also noted that there are adequate land banks zone for residential purposes in Mullingar.

Cllr Avril Whitney asked if the outlining planning permission granted for 28 houses in part of the parcel would be affected by any rezoning of the general area.

When given assurances that it wouldn't, the majority of councillors agreed to rezone the land.