Dezoning plan ‘halts resort development for five years’

ONE of Kerry’s most popular seaside resorts will see no development in the next five years, it was claimed yesterday.

Kerry County Council, as part of its controversial plan to dezone thousands of acres of residentially-zoned land, has agreed to dezone upwards of 30 acres in Glenbeigh.

A majority of councillors voted in favour of management proposals to allow just 11 acres to remain zoned as residential in the village, which is close to the Blue Flag Rossbeigh beach.

The four, separate dezoned areas are all outside the village and local Fianna Fáil councillor Michael Cahill claimed the decision would result in no development in Glenbeigh over the five-year term of a new area plan.

The local sewerage scheme was also working at capacity, he added.

“This is a sad day for the parish of Glenbeigh,” Mr Cahill protested. “It’s a very unfair plan for the people of Glenbeigh.”

Senior environment engineer Paul Stack said even if the lands retained their residential zoning, planning applications would have to be refused because they were not serviced by the public sewage scheme.

“Rezoning is worthless without a sewer. Glenbeigh has a scheme and it is logical all development should be serviced by that scheme,” he pointed out.

County manager Tom Curran said the council based its housing needs projections on population targets, but current population targets did not justify the retention of all residential zonings in Glenbeigh.

Fine Gael councillor Jim Finucane said it was disingenuous to say there would be no development in Glenbeigh, as there were 11 acres zoned for housing within the village. But, Glenbeigh builder Pat Griffin described the decision not to retain the zonings as “disgraceful”, saying it showed a severe lack of foresight.

Kerry councillors, who zoned huge amounts of land for housing during the economic boom, are now faced with opposition as they engage in a massive dezoning process.

In some cases, councillors become involved in a “swapping” process, trading zoned lands between one area and another.

A move to zone eight acres in Glenbeigh, instead of eight in nearby Killorglin failed, however.

Fine Gael councillor Patrick Connor Scarteen appealed to planners to find a “fairer procedure” and one that took up less time, rather than the swapping of parcels of land which saw some people lose out.