New Donore estate back to beginning

CONCERNS about the zoning state of the site for a proposed new council estate in Donore has led to a major delay in starting the project.

The 21 houses at An Riasc were supposed to be started this year and finished in 2019 but the timeframe will now be much longer.

The planning section in the council must now prepare a variation to the development plan and put their proposals on public display. October will now be the earliest when it can be brought to a council meeting. It will be 2019 before a new Part 8 application will be ready.

‘ This is awful news,’ Cllr Sharon Keogan stated at the last area council meeting in Duleek.

She said the €4.1m project was vital as ‘ the area needs houses now’ and said it would be 2021 before they’d be ready. She sought a full investigation and furthermore, said the new plans should be put on public display in Donore at the rear of the local shop.

‘How did we get it wrong?,’ she asked, Director of Services Fiona Lawless explaining that nobody ‘got it wrong’ and the project would only have needed an amendment to the planned County Development Plan but it had ‘stalled’ at government level and that caused the headache for the local authority now. ‘Had it not, we would have gone down the right road with planning,,’ she added.

She said the members would be consulted about the design as it progressed.

Cllr Stephen McKee said the initial project was rushed and residents in the area had issues with density and traffic management and he wanted to see it redrawn.

Cllr Paddy Meade felt that ideas should be forwarded to the design team as he believed the gardens were small.

Cllr Tom Kelly said it was regrettable that the zoning had caused these ‘snags’ and the delay would now put it back 12 months. He disagreed with the one bed apartments and raised the plight of carers and if people needed assistance, more than one bedroom was needed.

Cathaoirleach of the council Wayne Harding felt the residents of An Riasc now had more time to make submissions on the future new estate in their midst. He had heard concerns about elevation and footpaths and access