COMMENT: Planning the future of Mayo is at a crossroads
THE draft Mayo county development plan will be discussed by the members of Mayo County Council on Tuesday.
The plan, in effect, is a blueprint for Mayo and the manner in which our county will develop over the next number of years.
The new N5 between Castlebar and Westport will be completed in a year’s time.
It will considerably alter the landscape of a major portion of Mayo, particularly a large tract of land around Castlebar and Westport.
The landscape of Ireland has changed considerably since Mayo’s county development plan was published some years ago.
The attitude of our people has also changed through the manner in which our country has been ravaged by Covid-19.
People are no longer willing to live in smoke-filled cities and wish to return to where they were born and reared.
A survey, published in the Irish Times, revealed the vast majority of people from down the country want to get out of Dublin and settle down in their native place.
There is, however, a drawback in the planning system which could shatter their dreams and it relates to the refusal of planning applications.
Councillor Al McDonnell, a long-standing member of Mayo County Council, has expressed his horror at a number of 'anti-rural' proposals outlined in the draft of the Mayo development plan.
He told a recent meeting of Mayo County Council there was 'some very disturbing stuff' in the proposed plan.
Councillor McDonnell’s primary concerns relate to planning, particularly in the rural areas, which organisations like the Irish Planning Institute and others want to prohibit.
There was a time when planning was the first item on the agenda for meetings of local authorities.
Site meetings were held where councillors and engineers could minutely examine all aspects of planning.
With one fell swoop those concessions to councillors were deleted from the agenda of local authorities.
This was a hammer blow for local democracy and it is a mystery as to who was the mastermind behind this disgraceful decision.
It appears to people in Mayo that many sensible planning applications are turned down for very flimsy reasons if located on roads approaching national routes.
Those refusals could very well result in school closures in small rural communities and the shutting of post offices and local shops.
The new development plan for County Mayo must be scrutinised word by word, line by line by the members of Mayo County Council.
They are elected by the people and their authority must be respected.
We are now at a crossroads in the development of Mayo.
Whatever direction the councillors take will have a direct bearing on the lives of our people for many years.
Power must be given back to our people through its elected representatives. They know what is best for the people of Mayo.
We are confident they will do their utmost to ensure the development plan they produce will point the way forward for a better and more prosperous county.