Council to freeze zoned land after department rebuke

CLARE County Council is intending to ‘freeze’ over 4,000 acres zoned for housing around Ennis from development in response to Department of Environment concerns of “unjustified and unsustainable” overzoning.

In a letter to the council, the department has set a deadline of October 16 for the authority to address the overzoning for housing in the Ennis Development Plan.

The department has warned that if the council has not provided a solution by October 16, “the Minister for the Environment, John Gormley TD, will in the interests of proper planning and development of Clare and the midwest be forced to direct the council to make the necessary changes to the adopted plan with immediate effect”.