ROW EURUPTS OVER THE BUILDING OF NEW HOMES
COUNCILLOR CALLS ON COUNCIL TO RELEASE LAND RESERVES IN STRANDHILL AFTER LOBBYING BY DEVELOPER
A call on the Council to release land from their strategic reserve in Strandhill sparked a furious row between Fianna Fáil councillors and other parties at last week’s County Council meeting.
Fianna Fáil Councillor Seamus Kilgannon had tabled the motion after lobbying by developers, he told the monthly meeting.
His motion said: “With the economy recovering and over 400 new jobs for Sligo there are strong indications that house building activity could restart in Sligo and environs if there were more choices in terms of location.”
He called on the Council to release the land in Strandhill “to meet the growing demand for good quality homes.”
He urged planners to allow developers build “five or six” houses for a start. He said the demand for new house builds was there, as Sligo IT said they “could grow their teaching staff by up to 200 in the following years.”
Cllr Kilgannon was supported by Councillor Tom MacSharry who welcomed the motion as “quite timely.”
He told members that access to housing was one of the pre-requisites of companies enquiring about re-locating to Sligo and there was currently “no building happening”.
“We’re in the middle of a housing crisis and there’s nothing. Older people want to downsize and there’s nothing. For people with families there’s nothing,” said Cllr MacSharry.
“The lack of activity in this area is an indictment on the Local Authority,” he added.
Director of Services Dorothy Clarke told members that Strandhill already had 12 hectares zoned for residential uses, which could accommodate at least 150 news homes and up to 350 people.
Ms Clarke noted that the main reason for the lack of housing developments in Strandhill has been the lack of wastewater treatment facility capacity, “not a lack of choice in terms of location.”
She said the remaining 10.5 hectares undeveloped and zoned land in Strandhill was “sufficient” and said there would be “serious concerns” that expanding Strandhill could “undermine the growth potential of Sligo City.”
She also raised serious concerns that rezoning more land as residential in Strandhill could intensify traffic problems, there were not enough community facilities and the “unique” village landscape had to be protected.
Responding, Cllr Kilgannon said that “certainly doesn’t do a lot for the developers.”
“It’s small fry compared to what they’re looking for. There isn’t a private house being built in Strandhill. For the life of me I can’t understand why we can’t develop outside Sligo town. There are no schemes ready to go in Sligo town,” he said.
Supporting him, Fianna Fáil Councillor Rosaleen O’Grady said the wastewater treatment plant expansion had been approved: “There isn’t a shovel of cement between here and Strandhill. There’s nothing being done. This is a total necessity.”
Fine Gael Councillor Sinead Maguire said she would not support the motion.
“Everyone in this room is aware of what happened when we allowed ourselves to be dictated to by the developers. There are two housing estates being built in Strandhill. I got lobbied by the same developer who was not talking about “five or six houses but 80-100,” she told the meeting.
“We have an obligation to the people who currently live there. There are plenty of other places. This environment in Strandhill is already fragile, it’s a village. 10.5 hectares are already zoned and we have to see if the Strandhill Wastewater treatment plant will meet the needs of the existing population,” she said.
Sinn Fein Councillor Chris MacManus said he would not be supporting the motion either, claiming the local school was “already full to bursting.”
“There’s already 120-150 new builds. I don’t understand what the rush is. Councillor MacSharry said we would wait two years before we would look at rezoning the strategic reserve. Why are we now, nine months in (since the adoption of the 2017-2023 County Development Plan) trying to accelerate the process?” he asked.
Independent Councillor Michael Clarke said mistakes were made in the County Development Plan which was adopted in July 2017.
“There’s no word that Strandhill needs new community facilities. We’ve got to be sending a message to these property developers that if you don’t use it - this Council should be strong enough to de-zone the land,” he said.
Fine Gael Councillor Hubert Keaney pointed out that Sligo County Council was the first Local Authority in the country to de-zone land.
He said Fine Gael got “great flak” from developers but were then “applauded” for it.
Cllr Keaney acknowledge there was a “frustration” at the lack of developments but said it was “to do with the availability of finance.”
“One of the things we learned from the past was that there was huge economic damage from bad zoning. It does not make for good policy change and it should not be presented as such,” he said.
“There is a whole generation of people who are paying for the diabolic planning of the past,” he added.
Cllr Tom MacSharry said Strandhill was a much sought-after place and he knew from talking to the auctioneers.
“We’re a progressive party. We welcome the jobs but where are the houses? There’s a crisis,” he said.
Sligo County Council Chief Executive Ciarán Hayes said it was a difficult issue.
“What you are describing is market failure. What you are proposing as a result of lobbying from a developer, is to take house lands out of the Strategic reserve so that developers benefit,” he told the members.
“That is not good policy,” he said.
“If we don’t have any construction activity I would much prefer Sligo County Council to release it’s own portion of land for residential development,” he said.
Mr Hayes said the Council had to maintain consistency with the County Development Plan and National Framework Strategy so Sligo becomes an “economic driver in the North West.”
“I would be extremely strongly against your proposal to allow these developers develop this land. If you want to correct a market failure this is not the way to go about it,” he added.
Cllr Kilgannon said the IDA indicated to them that one of the problems was going to be housing .
“There’s more than one developer, there’s a few developers. They were looking to take just a portion of it, maybe build five or six houses,” pressed Cllr Kilgannon.
However he added that he and his party colleagues would be prepared to withdraw the motion if they got assurances that there would be a debate on the matter before the end of this calendar year.
“It’s a joke around Sligo. One particular developer owns a massive amount of land and is just sitting on it. Sligo is being deprived,” he said.
“They said they don’t have the time to develop the sites because they’ve other bigger projects,” he added.
The Chief Executive agreed there was an issue with housing and said he had no issue with having a debate about it in the Council chamber.
He also said he was proposing setting up a team in the Council that “will include someone with good property management experience to try to address this property crisis.”