Decarbonisation zone ‘not about car numbers’

A call to remove the designation of Mullingar as a decarbonisation zone under the town’s new Local Area Plan (LAP) has been ruled out by officials, who say the designation is a legal requirement under national climate policy.

At the July meeting of the Mullingar Kinnegad Municipal District, Cllr Andrew Duncan tabled a motion seeking to strip the zone from the LAP, citing a lack of clarity on what it would mean for residents, particularly in terms of traffic and transport.

“The problem with many of these climate action initiatives is that it’s hard to see through the fog and to see what actual repercussions there are for people,” he said.

“Anything that seems to do with climate change seems to be, ‘let’s reduce the car numbers straight away’.”

Cllr Duncan called for more detailed information about what the designation will mean in practice, saying there was an assumption that the first step in decarbonisation would be to limit car use. “We already have enough impact on transport without impacting it any further,” he said.

Officials made clear, however, the designation is not optional. In a written response, the Planning Section explained that under Action 165 of the National Climate Action Plan, each local authority is “mandated” to designate a Decarbonisation Zone.

Westmeath County Council carried out a public consultation in 2021, during which the proposal from the Mullingar Sustainable Energy Community (SEC) was selected and formally submitted to the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications.

As a result, the council said, the inclusion of the zone in the Local Area Plan is a “statutory obligation” and cannot be removed at local level.

Director of services Deirdre Reilly later addressed concerns directly.

“It isn’t true to say… that it’s all about reducing the number of cars,” she told councillors. “It’s much more than that. It’s talking about a collective campaign in relation to businesses, transport, energy use, and carbon resilience.

It’s about working together as a community to reduce our carbon footprint.”

She said the council’s climate action team will begin engagement with major energy users in Mullingar – such as the hospital – to assess how they plan to lower emissions.

National guidelines on decarbonisation zones are also in development, she added.

Cllr Ken Glynn supported Cllr Duncan’s motion and voiced frustration over the lack of public submissions on the draft LAP, which was out for public consultation.

“One of the most important pieces of work that’s ongoing at the moment – and there’s no submissions – would suggest to me that bar people we’ve all individually told, nobody has a clue what’s happening,” he said.

“I just think we’re missing people,” Cllr Glynn responded. “People don’t even know this is happening.”

The LAP for Mullingar remains open to public submissions, and councillors urged residents to review the plan and have their say.