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THE HERITAGE WATCHDOG An Taisce takes a number of local authorities to task in its report today on bad planning decisions across the nation in the Celtic Tiger years.
One of the areas it cites as “an example of some of the most senseless zoning excesses of the ‘Celtic Tiger’ era” is Ennis, Co Clare. The body found that almost 4,500 acres of land was zoned for development – had this all happened it would have increased the population of the town from 26,000 to over 100,000 people.
An Taisce singles out one case for special mention: that of a local farmer who managed to sell zoned land for €18.8m. However, the buyers of the land were subsequently turned down for planning permission after it was established that the land was on a flood plain. Even with this discovery, An Taisce, notes…
Despite the fact that Ennis was one of the worst affected areas by flooding in 2009, and that the town only needed a maximum of 175 acres, the Department of the Environment encountered significant difficulties from local councillors in seeking to get this land de-zoned.
The farmer in question who became a multi-millionaire overnight from the sale of his land was JJ McCabe from Clarecastle. The 48 acres he sold, near the new motorway outside Ennis, were bought by Galway-based Harmack Developments. Their plan to build a retail park on the site were thwarted when an environmental impact assessment found that the land was built on a floodplain. However, as seen in the report from An Taisce quoted in the preceding paragraph, it took the Department of the Environment some time to dissuade local councillors from allowing the land to remain zoned for development.
McCabe stood for election as an independent candidate in the General Election last year (and was eliminated on the second count in the Clare constituency). He had previously stood in four local elections in 1991, 1999, 2004 and 2009, each time as an independent candidate. On launching his campaign last year, McCabe told his local paper, The Clare Champion, that he planned to create jobs by opening a wood processing plant and four offices, one each in Kilrush, Ennistymon, Ennis and Scariff.
He voiced criticism of An Taisce during one of those local election campaigns – in 2009 – after that body’s calls for a reduction in use of Shannon Airport for environmental concerns. He described An Taisce on a ClareFM interview as “enemies of society”.
The Ennis example aside, the An Taisce report pinpoints repeated floutings of flood risk management guidelines in developments during the Noughties.
Read the full report here>
One proposed development challenged by An Taisce because it was built on a floodplain was a mixed-use development with 39 apartments that was to lie on the Kincha Road, Gort, Co Galway. An Taisce said the area was prone to regular flooding from the river Gort. A few months after the planning permission for that development was overturned, in June 2009, the area flooded and turned into a “17-acre lake”.
Here are some other developments challenged and overturned after complaints that they were to be built on flood plains:
(via An Taisce)
The recommendation from this report is that councils must move “to urgently de-zone flood-prone lands”. The report says:
Failure to do so will mean that the ultimate costs will be transferred to society at large.
I know one of those areas mentioned in the picture and every dog on the street knew it flooded every year. You didn’t need a bad winter for that to happen.
Sure aren’t we a great little country altogether! JJ McCabe (who pocketed millions from the sale of land) describes An Taisce as “enemies of society”. It looks like An Taisc did a lot of unsuspecting people a huge favour in Gort.
To be honest Reg we would be royally fooked without them as they are often the lone dissenting voices in planning decisions and more often than not they are dead right. A much maligned and under supported organisation!
No surprises there, even though it pre-dated the “Celtic Tiger” era. Houses were built on areas that were winter turloughs in Ennis from the early 1990s on, and the flood plain issue was known by virtually everyone in the town. (This is not an idle comment — I personally discussed it with many people over a number of years. It’s something you do when living in a town that flooded regularly.)
The only assumption that I can logically infer is that the Ennis UDC councillors and planners didn’t understand what they were doing, or that they had strange motives for allowing planning permission.
Ah yes, bad planning decisions. Reminds me of the Western Gateway Building that UCC built a couple of years ago. Not sure how fast it went through the planning process (alot of questions around it…maybe someone with the full story can clarify) but the basement (complete with servers) and ground floor was basically destroyed with the floods back in 2009. Traditionally, that area always floods anyway even though these floods were exceptional. A bit of cop on wouldn’t go astray….
Anyone ever wondered what happened to all the money the banks were only too willing to pump out during the celtic tiger years?
The answer lies with people like the farmer mentioned who got close to €20m for his flooded land. Can’t blame him though, if someone was stupid enough to offer it any sane person would have taken it!
lots of land along the barrow in Carlow floods every time it rains heavily yet these crooks allowed hundreds of apartments to be built there in several developments.
The farmer got €18.8 but how much did the FF”er that gave the go ahead?
WHO lost their job?
This case is one of the rare times I fully agree with An Taisce. So much flood plain development was going on throughout the country but especially in my home town of Ennis. It boggles the mind how some of these locations were given the okay for housing when everyone and their mothers knew they were high flood risk areas. Big questions to answer from the county council officials who should have known better. There is still however no detailed flood map available for large portions of the country and the Dept. of the Environment should actively pursue this issue so that future councils are precluded from making these kind of errors again.
The farmer was hardly going to turn down an offer like that for his farm. Don’t see why anybody is having a go at him.
the councilors were beyond stupid to zone a floodplain.even a local child would know that a certain field would flood every winter.at this stage that level of insanity is what we expect from them which is depressing.but the buyer,s of these lands intrigue me the most.these ´cute hoor´ developers would surely have had some experience of the ly of the land.and the stupid banks who put up the money?what posessed that lot go ahead with it i will never know.
The 2009 Co. Galway photo at the top of this page I think shows Mulveys shop in Ballinasloe, on a street built several decades before the Celtic Tiger boom. Some of the freak flooding events we’ve had in the last few years have affected areas previously not thought to be flood prone let us not forget that. Thankfully the information now available is a lot more detailed given the flood risk mapping that has/is been carried out across the country recently – and this will give the local planners and engineers the real proof they need to counteract any future zoning proposals by councillors on flood plains, and dezoning on lands not yet developed. Just a pity that the investment in same wasn’t there at the start of the boom.
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