NOFRYZONECOMMITTEEWANTS COUNCILTOREVOKEDECISION
NO FRY ZONE COMMITTEE HAS SENT A LETTER TO THE COUNCIL CLAIMING IT ACTED ‘UNLAWFULLY’ BY GIVING TAKE-AWAY THE GREEN LIGHT, WRITES
MEMBERS of the No Fry Zone for Wicklow Kids met with Minister Simon Harris recently regarding the decision by Wicklow County Council to grant planning permission allowing a takeaway to open in the Blacklion Retail Centre.
The group is incensed that Wicklow County Council went against an objective in the current County Development Plan outlining that fast food outlets are not permitted to open within 400 metres of schools.
The site of the planned restaurant and takeaway at Unit 1 in the Blacklion Retail Centre is 125 metres from Temple Carrig Secondary School and 150 metres from Greystones Educate Together National School.
Previously, Director of Planning Sean Quirke said the application was received by the council on April 11 and there had been no submissions or observations on the application.
He said the restaurant and takeaway had room for
59 seats and permission had been granted on June
1 subject to four conditions, including a condition that the take-away part of the restaurant couldn’t operate before 5 p.m.
An Bord Pleanala refused Philip Moyles, chairman of No Fry Zone for Wicklow Kids, leave to appeal the decision of Wicklow County Council.
Speaking last week, Mr Moyles said that members of the group met with Minister for Health Simon Harris during the week and he understood the group’s anger and frustration.
‘We had a good meeting with him lasting about 45 minutes. We went through the history of the case but, being local, he was already familiar with it.
‘ To me, the decision to grant permission is a good example of the local plan not working. We had engaged directly with councillors for almost two years before the plan was adopted to get this objective included and then the officials didn’t adhere to that.
‘He understood our concerns and I think he has concerns too about the local planning process in respect of health. He is going to organise an stakeholder’s forum on obesity in October between officials from the Department of Planning, Health and other stakeholders.
‘He has asked us to go along to this and share what we did to get the objective included with a view, I think, to aligning the planning process and health.’
Mr Moyles said that the decision by An Bord Pleanala to refuse them leave to appeal Wicklow County Council’s decision had been disappointing in the extreme.
‘I think at this stage the only other option open to us is judicial review and I don’t see us going down that route. We had hoped to get leave to appeal but we are examining our options.
‘We are very angry at how it (the council) came to the decision and we are looking at our options regarding that.
‘We are looking at a complaints procedure. We are going to call out Wicklow County Council officials and its Chief Executive for its behaviour. One option we are looking at is a complaint to the Standards in Public Office commission.’
Mr Moyles said nobody had lodged an objection to the council in respect of the initial application because they believed that the No Fry Zone objective would come into force negating the need to object.
‘From our point of view, we can’t believe that the decision was granted given the work that went into the County Development Plan.
‘We believed they would adhere to the plan and its objective. That’s one of the most shocking aspects of this. During the McDonald’s application process, the council received hundreds of submissions representing the views of thousands of people.’
Mr Moyles said that the latest edition of Wicklow County Council’s Countywise issue has plenty of space dedicated to a prestigious award it received recently.
‘Wicklow County Council got recognised with an award of recognition for its commitment to public health from the Association of the Study of Obesity Ireland and there was almost a full page spread on the award. It’s shocking for it (the council) to be praising itself in light of this decision in Greystones.’
Last week the No Fry for Wicklow Kids sent a letter to CEO of Wicklow County Council Frank Curran saying that they believed that the council had acted ‘unlawfully’ by granting the planning permission.
The letter outlined how the executive planner had recommended that further information be sought from the applicant ‘along with confirmation that the proposed planning application would not contravene Objective RT 17’.
However, her recommendation had been disregarded by a senior planning engineer.
The committee has called on Mr Curran to revoke the planning permission, saying that failing to do so would result in a ‘costly judicial review process’.