Agenda and minutes

Mr Joseph Gilhooly outlined that the Draft Policy on the Local Improvement Scheme is before the members for approval, following a number of workshops, and is in compliance with 2022 Scheme Outline as published by the Department of Rural & Community Development in April 2022.

Mr Terry McGovern, Senior Engineer gave an overview of the Draft Policy on the Local Improvement Scheme as circulated to the members which appears as Appendix 1 to the minutes of this meeting. Mr McGovern outlined that the Local Improvement Scheme will open on the 1^st November 2022 and close on the 27^th January 2023.

The members raised the following

·         The proposed cap of €1,200 per property owner/ beneficiary on a road needs to be removed where commercial businesses such as Coliite or other forestry companies use a road.

·         Is the 10% contribution fee payable by applicants applicable in all situations?

·         Members acknowledged that in the case of large schemes, it may not be possible to get an entire road completed at the same time and queried if anything can be done to facilitate completion of the works on the entire length of the road.

·         A list of roads schemes should be prepared each year with 20-30 lanes for completion. The list should have sufficient capacity so that it does not become exhausted and there is scope on the list to enable works on schemes to progress while an additional call for new applications is made.

·         There should be flexibility allowed where an applicants circumstances have changed from when they submitted their application.

·         Stop/Start nature of the scheme is misleading to the public.

·         Bohey Lane, drainage pipe needs to be put in place. Contract needs to be honoured and by Leitrim County Council and no further charges to be sought.  Water should be trapped at the top of the lane and the installation of a pipe would help.

·         All members should work to get all the lanes in their areas included and make sure the public is well informed and aware of the criteria for inclusion on the scheme.

·         Tar and chip should be used in instances where the money is not available to complete the entire length of a road. This will avoid the applicant having to go through the application process again to complete a road.

·         Roads that service just one occupied house and one parcel of land are commonplace and the laneways are excluded from the proposed scheme.  Many people who qualified in 2009 and 2010 will not qualify now. If an occupant of a house had acute medical grounds and there was only one landowner on the road, would the road qualify for works?

·         The criteria on the old LIS scheme excluded a lot of people also.

·         A review of the scheme in 12 months is welcome

·         It is Important that this scheme is up and running soon

·         Clarification was sought on applications that are validated and following 2 years on the list, one applicant listed on the application form  ...  view the full minutes text for item MM.129.22

Mr Bernard Greene, Senior Planner, gave a PowerPoint presentation providing an overview of the progress on the preparation of the Draft County Development Plan to date. He outlined that the purpose of the meeting is to conclude the consideration of the Chief Executives report on the submissions received through the public consultation process, from members of the public, elected members and prescribed bodies, on the Draft County Development Plan. He advised the members that this is the last stage of the process where significant changes can be made to the draft Plan.

Mr Bernard Greene, Senior Planner referred to the various workshops that had been held with the elected members in the preparation of the Draft County Development Plan and he thanked them for their participation and engagement with the process. In particular, to 2 no. workshops held on county at large issues, 1 no. workshop on the Strategic Flood Risk Assessment and to the individual Municipal District workshops dealing with land use zoning submissions.

Mr Bernard Greene advised members to declare any conflicts of interest with any of the amendments when they come up for consideration and to excuse themselves from the meeting for the duration of the discussion on that amendment/recommendation. This was outlined in the PowerPoint presentation which he gave.

Councillor Sean McDermott queried what was the position on making submissions on the Landscape Character Assessment.  Mr Bernard Greene confirmed that no submissions have been received on the Landscape Character Assessment and the closing date for receipt of submissions has passed.

Mr Greene outlined that there are 174 proposed recommendations to amend the Draft County Development Plan and he then proceeded to go through each amendment with the members as: