Submission on town plan

Submission on Town Plan

 

Keith Martin

 

33 Pairc na Coille

Westport

Co. Mayo

 

Tuesday, 01 December 2009

 

 

1. Inserting the word "sustainable" into the town plan, here and there, does not make it a plan for a sustainable town.  Specific provisions for park and walk, allotments, increased bus links within the town and with towns like Castlebar, encouraging walking to school and work, bicycle parking, cycling lanes, dedicated cycle and walking lanes, the use of renewable power in public buildings and the proper insulation of existing and future buildings are issues which make a sustainable town.
2. EO-05 should be removed.  The industrialisation of Roman Island is an eyesore and a mistake, removing EO-05 will not affect the existing jobs but will end the possibility of further industrialisation of an island at the heart of Westport's contact with the Clew Bay SAC.  No other jobs are protected in such a manner in the town plan and it is poor practise to do so in this instance.
3. CFO-07 remove "subject to demand and logistics" as this could be applied to any other provision of the Town Plan and is a given in any event.
4. TO-05 allows for the "watering down" and weakening of the council's case in enforcing the preservation of the town's protected structures.  This has not been an issue in the past and should not be an issue in the future.  The change to "a high conservation standard" should be struck out and the original phrase allowed to stand.
5. 3 INDUSTRIAL ZONING in the case of the Newport Road/Golf Course Road should be shielded off by evergreen trees.
6. Proposed amendments to the Proposed additions to the RPS should be postponed and meeting sought with the Minister for the Environment to outline what grant supports will be made available to property owners in Westport in the event that their property is to be listed.
7. Zonings ZA-07,ZA-08 and ZA-09 are un-necessary and very inappropriate as they throw the whole town plan out of balance from being one which seeks to develop a town core to one which seeks to open up huge strips of land outside the town and on the edge of the town to large scale commercial development.  It is my belief that if this zoning goes through as is that it will be overturned by the Dept of the Environment and that advise from the Dept should be sought in advance of any decision.
8. ZA-18 should be zoned for Marine and not Industrial.  It should be an objective of the council to encourage Marine related tourism and commercial enterprise on Roman Island and not perpetuate the mistake of allowing it to be industrialised.
9. ZA-22 How was this site developed a sports pitch when it was not properly zoned?  Could this be explained to me in writing?  I am happy with new zoning to go into place though there have been complaints of noise from residents in the area.
10. ZA-28 is an absolutely disastrous example of poor planning by a local authority.  It is an attempt to please everyone which fails to satisfy anyone.  Since the garden was closed it has been allowed to stagnate, while zoned Town Centre for over a decade at the hight of the planning boom it was left undeveloped.  Suggestions that by zoning it Open Space now could leave it to "stagnate" further are spurious.  You cannot carve up the Bank Garden into two zonings as it is contrary to idea of it being protected curtilage and would only destroy the area as a walled garden by removing the walls.  In any event the amount zoned Open Space would have to be open space for any residential aspect of development in the garden.  The Town Council tried to purchase this garden when it first went on the market.  It is time for Westport Town and Mayo County Council to purchase it as a park for Westport and as a tourism attraction.  The Garden must be zoned Open Space in its entirety.
11. This plan fails to regularise the issue of Quarry Lane.  It should be determined as to exactly what the lane is capable of off and if any further development should be allowed to take place accessing it.  In my opinion Quarry Lane has been over developed and is not capable of carrying any more traffic.

 

Faithfully

Keith Martin
086 0691182

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Faithfully

Cllr Keith Martin
086 0691182

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Faithfully

Cllr Keith Martin
086 0691182