A request by IDA Ireland for more land to be zoned for industrial use in Clonmel has been rejected by consultants to Clonmel Corporation. In a report to be debated by councillors next week, the consultancy firm CAAS (Environmental Services) Ltd has also reversed a controversial proposal to rezone a 29-acre land bank at Moangarriff for residential development.
The report details submissions received in connection with Clonmel's draft development plan, which went on public display last year.
Mr John Power, the IDA's south-east property manager, submitted that sufficient industrial land had not been zoned. Most of the zoned land was already developed or in the ownership of developers, so purchasing it would be difficult, he said.
He said the cost of site purchase and development in Clonmel was £30,000 to £40,000 an acre and this was not competitive compared with other locations. The zoning of more land would ensure the IDA could purchase it at a more reasonable price. CAAS, however, says it considers that adequate lands have been zoned for industrial development in the five-year development plan.
Another significant element of the report deals with lands at Moangarriff, on the Waterford side of the town, which were the subject of a major political row last year. Local residents objected to a proposal in the draft development plan for 29 acres to be rezoned from agricultural to residential use.
A majority of councillors also opposed the proposal and voted to remove the Moangarriff rezoning.
A local businessman, Mr Michael Woodlock, said investment in his company, Flancare Ltd, would suffer if councillors did not reverse the decision and allow the rezoning to go ahead. Mr Woodlock owned 12 of the 29 acres but had sold 10 of these to a local builder, Morrissey Construction, subject to planning permission for a 105-house development.
It now appears that CAAS has had a change of mind about the area and is no longer proposing that it be rezoned. It says Moangarriff is a prime development area "where residential developments can be accommodated close to the town centre with the resultant avoidance of urban sprawl and rural suburbanisation".
"However, there are a number of problems present in the Moangarriff area which undermine the ability to develop it in a sustainable manner, namely both the lack of adequate services and infrastructure, and the desire to avoid extensive development which would ultimately serve to undermine the unique character of Powerstown as an independent settlement."
To overcome these deficiencies, CAAS proposes a comprehensive survey of existing infrastructure in the area to identify sites suitable for development. An "infrastructural master plan" for the area should then be prepared, it says. In the meantime, the area should remain zoned for agricultural use only.
Corporation members, who meet next Tuesday to discuss the consultants' recommendations, are likely to seek clarification of the "master plan". Following the meeting, a revised draft development plan will go on public display for a month before the plan is finally adopted.
CAAS received seven submissions seeking to have the Moangarriff lands rezoned, including one each from Mr Woodlock and Morrissey Construction Ltd.
