Wicklow council votes to reverse controversial 172-acre land rezoning

WICKLOW county councillors last night voted to reverse their own decision for a massive land rezoning to provide a new base for Ardmore Film Studios.

The controversial decision to rezone 172 acres outside Ashford was overturned following complaints from councillors that they had been misled into believing Ardmore would pull out of the county if it did not get a site to expand its operations.

Ardmore’s management subsequently denied they had any intention of leaving their Bray base.

Last night’s vote, which was split 14-8, was passed despite attempts by the landowner and rezoning proposer to clarify earlier statements made about the studios.

Landowner Joe O’Connell circulated documents showing the biggest user of Ardmore, film company World 2000 Entertainment, had expressed concerns about Ardmore’s ability to continue attracting major movie projects if it could not expand its facilities.

Fianna Fáil councillor Fachtna Whittle, who proposed the original rezoning, offered last night to modify the proposal to a 60-acre site with the new zoning to expire in 2010 if it was not developed in that time but this was rejected.

County manager Eddie Sheehy said the proposal had merits but suggested it be dealt with by way of a variation to the county development plan or a material contravention if and when a firm planning application was lodged.

Last night’s vote came at the end of a frequently heated six-hour meeting held to reconsider 17 controversial rezoning decisions made by the council in the early hours of July 13 last following an 18-hour meeting on the draft county development plan.

The review was ordered given the peculiar circumstances in which the decisions were taken and the fact that most of them went against the advice of council planners and officials.

Yesterday’s meeting was temporarily suspended when a member of the public gallery alerted officials that one councillor was recording the proceedings. Green Party councillor Deirdre de Burca was forced to hand over the tape recorder despite insisting that she had it for her own protection.

She said at a previous meeting another member had called her a “pathological liar, scumbag and b***h” and the chairman had not intervened to stop the abuse or seek a retraction. “I had a very unpleasant experience here before. It was for my own protection.” she said.

The debate at times descended into shouting matches. At one point Independent member Tommy Cullen said he would be going to the gardaí today with “information” about one of other sites which was subject to a rezoning.

The meeting got through nine of the 17 decisions, overturning two, scaling down one and reaffirming the other six.