Thursday, June 24, 2010

Gormley to drop veto on one-off houses

From the Irish Independent ... John Gormley is to scrap the ban on one-off houses along the nation's secondary roads.

Minister Gormley is proposing to give councils powers to allow one-off developments on main secondary roads under new planning guidelines. The move is certain to be welcomed by Fianna Fail councillors and deputies who have vehemently opposed the ban.

The NRA routinely objects to one-off houses along main roads because of the dangers involved in cars moving on to and off the roads interacting with fast-moving trucks and cars. However, the new guidelines will give the green light to housing and other developments along secondary roads.

This is very strange. Trevor Sargent was on Pat Kenny's show on RTE radio this morning arguing that the proposed Animal Welfare Bill was primarily about road safety. And now John Gormley goes directly against the opinions of the NRA??? Why is this ban being scrapped Minister Gormley? Are the Green Party now in favour or one-off housing? Or is this just pandering to the wishes of Fianna Fail?

2 comments:

  1. "It is expected that normal safety criteria for main secondary roads will apply and will not be affected by the changes."

    In other words the NRA will still be able to object on safety grounds.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thats not how I read this Eoin. Also, I dont think the NRA see it like this.

    Are the Green party now supportive of one-off houses? This would seem to clash with Green party policy. Why was this decision made? Its not like we have a housing shortage in Ireland at the moment ...

    ReplyDelete