Cork County Council’s Local Area Plan (LAP) process finished on Tuesday last, 19th July 2011. LAPs are produced every 6 years and there is one for each of the ten Electoral Areas in County Cork.
The purpose of the LAP is to guide development throughout the county over the next 6 years, be that residential, education facilities, amenities/open space, commercial etc. While the councillors ultimately vote on what is to be included on the plan, the general public and the management of Cork County Council have a large amount of input. Draft plans have been put out for public consultation on two occasions over the twelve months and submissions received from this process was considered by management, who advised councillors to include or exclude the proposed amendments. The final decision on the plans were made on Tuesday.
Before Tuesday there were three proposed amendments for the Mallow Electoral Area LAP in which I was in favour of but were not supported by management. Two of these locations happened to be in Buttevant and the other location was in Doneraile. There was text changes made to one of the locations in Buttevant in order to improve commercial activity in the town over the coming years. This was accepted by all councillors and management. On the other two proposals (a site for residential development in Buttevant and retirement village in Doneraile) management would not support the proposed amendments. On both of these issues, I was convinced that the proposals were appropriate and sustainable, and would ultimately be good for both Buttevant and Doneraile into the future. When the vote was taken there was unanimous support for the amendments resulting in both proposal receiving the appropiate zoning for the next 6 years.
The new LAPs will be available for viewing shortly on www.corkcoco.ie and at County Hall, Cork.
