McHale Park planning crux continues but delay in injunction order causes anger

McHale Park planning crux continues but delay in injunction order causes anger


Edwin McGreal
Castlebar

THE planning crux in relation to part of the re-development of McHale Park in Castlebar is set to continue for over a month at least after last Thursday’s monthly meeting of Castlebar Town Council heard that ‘new information’ had been handed in by the architects behind the project.
Residents of McHale Road have been angered over planning breaches in the construction of the media tower on the McHale Road side of the ground and the Mayo GAA County Board, through their architects, David O’Malley and Associates, have applied for retention planning permission for these changes.
Six members of Castlebar Town Council had a Section 140 motion before last Thursday’s meeting to direct the Town Manager, Seamus Granahan, to refuse the retention permission sought.
However Mr Granahan told the meeting that ‘significant further information’ had come before the council which made the Section 140 ‘irrelevant’.
“Councillors are obliged to be fully informed if taking a Section 140 and they consider any new information. I propose writing to the agents to ask them to re-advertise the application. Once that is advertised there is a period of two weeks for submissions and then a further period of two weeks for the management submission,” explained the Town Manager.
Councillor Frank Durcan, who proposed the Section 140, was informed that if the councillors were not happy with the application after the period for submissions had concluded, a new Section 140 could be issued.
However there was considerable anger and disquiet over a breach of an enforcement order and the lack of a serving of an injunction by the time the meeting was held.
Mayor Michael Kilcoyne said that he had received several phone calls on Wednesday, October 14 informing him that the developers at McHale Park were carrying out work and building a wall where there was no planning permission to do so, in the vicinity of the media tower.
“I gave the manager my views and he said he would seek an injunction. Eight days on the injunction still hasn’t been taken. When someone tells me to do something and then it isn’t done, well I do wonder,” said Kilcoyne.
Responding, Seamus Granahan said that the injunction would be served but the legal route was time consuming.
“I was appalled when I heard work was work was being carried out there because I received an undertaking that no further work would take place in an area where there was no planning permission. We said we would initiate legal proceedings and we are progressing as quickly as possible but we do have to be careful that we injunct correctly,” stated Granahan, who also confirmed that the site would be inspected daily by the council.
Cllr Frank Durcan then questioned why such a ‘softly softly’ approach was used with the developer.
“I have never seen any council act like this with any other developer. People are suspicious and will draw their own conclusions. If it was a private developer that had done what has been done here, they’d be in Mountjoy by now.
Residents of McHale Road did receive new proposals themselves at the weekend before the meeting and while it is not certain if the information submitted to the council is the same, the residents have intimated that they would not be satisfied with the new application.
It is to receive further consideration in the comingdays.