Tipperary council to seek public's views on proposed changes to draft Clonmel Local Area Plan

Councillors have given the green light for the public’s views to be sought on the 88 amendments proposed to the draft Clonmel & Environs Local Area Plan for 2024-230.

It was one of three draft strategic land use development plans that came before Tipperary County Council’s latest monthly meeting for approval to proceed to the next stage of the process of finalising them. The other two were the draft LAPs for Thurles and Nenagh.

Cllr Siobhán Ambrose proposed the amendments to the draft Clonmel LAP go out to public consultation and councillor Michael Fitzgerald seconded her proposal.

The Council CEO’s 194 page report on the 119 public submissions the council received in relation to the provisions of the draft Clonmel & Environs LAP was presented to the council’s elected members along with a 109 page report detailing the 88 amendments the council’s Planning Section recommends be made to the draft LAP.

Tipperary County Council Senior Executive Planner Fergal O’Donnell said getting the draft LAPs for Clonmel, Thurles and Nenagh to this stage of preparation was the culmination of a significant level of work.

It had taken over a year, starting in October last year, to get the three draft plans to this stage.

The council organised more than 20 workshops during the process and he praised councillors for the huge amount of engagement and feedback they gave the council’s Planning Section at each stage.

“We have undertaken public events and have had very good engagement with the public.

“We have been engaging directly with state bodies and government departments and we sent letters to community groups to alert them.

“We also put notices in the local press and articles and did quite a lot of communications through social media channels.”

While the draft Clonmel LAP attracted 119 public submissions, there were significantly less public submission for the Thurles and Nenagh draft LAPs. There were 37 public submissions made to the draft Nenagh LAP while the Thurles draft LAP attracted 27 submissions.

Mr O’Donnell said there will now be a further public consultation phase with the public’s views sought on the proposed amendments, also known as material alterations, to the draft LAPS.

The proposed amendments will go on public display for inspection at council offices in the three towns for four weeks starting this Friday, November 17 and ending on Monday, December 18. They will also be available to view online on Tipperary County Council’s website. (See Advert on Page 7 of this week's edition of The Nationalist)

In Clonmel, they will be on public display in Tipperary County Council’s Civic Offices at Emmet Street and Clonmel Library at Mick Delahunty Square.

The public and interested bodies are invited to make submissions specifically on the amendments to the draft plans.

The deadline for sending written submissions in relation to the amendments to the council is 4pm on Monday, December 18.

Mr O’Donnell anticipates there will only be minor changes to the three draft LAPs arising from this forthcoming public consultation process at the end of which the council will organise more workshops with councillors to “iron out” any issues.

Mr O’Donnell said it was the Planning Section’s intention to bring the three finalised LAPs before Tipperary County Council’s February meeting for final approval. The new development plans would come into effect in late March.