Process to agree new Plan underway
THE new Development Plan for Fingal will be a world away from its predecessor which was formed in the teeth of the Celtic Tiger amid unprecedented growth in Fingal. That was back in 2005 where huge tracts of land were controversially rezoned for residential use.
The story will be hugely different this time with a plan drawn up in the middle of a recession and advice from planners confirming that the county has more than enough land already zoned for its housing needs.
New priorities are emerging like stimulating economic activity and job creation in the county and addressing the needs of those born to rural families who want to build homes where they grew up.
Councillors have begun to put meat on the bones of the Fingal County Development Plan (20112017) in a series of long and hotly debated meetings.
Over five meetings councillors have begun to put forward amendments to an early draft of the plan which has still a long process ahead of it before it is finally ratified.
The current series of meetings will be covered over the next number of weeks in the Fingal Independent and the Mayor of Fingal County Council, Cllr Ciaran Byrne (Lab), was right when he reminded councillors at the start of the process that this would be among the most important tasks they would take on.
