Political Protest - Planning, Local Government, Constitutional Law

Keen2win

I have recently become involved in a political protest around the sale of a site for housing even as it is zoned sports and recreation. A very long story short, this has brought up a few queries around planning, constitutional law and local government.

I have spoke to a few people and it really seems that my queries are very specific, so most solicitors won't be able to provide advice. I am trying to get on to FLAC, but no luck so far.

I am not sure if it is appropriate to post the issues here, but the first is around the zoning; can this be manipulated even if council are strongly saying that they will never change it (could a small sporting amenity such as tennis courts be provided and the rest left to housing, etc.). I have also heard that planning law may be changing in the future but I don't know if this is correct.

On the local government, meetings are taking place behind closed doors and it seems as if I am being ignored as I am asking to speak to council management - is all this okay? I have put in a FOI request, but have no response on that yet either, they can hardly ignore that too?

The constitutional law is obviously more broad, I understand that you only try constitutional law when everything else has been tried, however I feel certain passages in the local government section of the constitution go against what is happening in this case, but I am sure lot's of people think this so where is the burden of proof - is the constitution not even worth the paper it is written on in this case?

Caranica

Sites can be rezoned, though not as commonly these days as in the 90s.

Council meetings are streamed so I'm not sure what you mean about closed doors. Officials are also meeting via Zoom etc. If you're having issues contacting an official, your local councillors or TDs should be able to help.

A lot of county development plans are being drafted at the moment so looking at the history of the site and any draft plans might give you an idea.

Finally, under Rebuilding Ireland, a lot of planning conventions went out the window. In my experience of working with residents on controversial planning applications for four years, almost everything (once it meets the density requirements) gets approved these days if it's in a high demand area or well connected to public transport.

yrreg0850

Keen2win wrote: »

I have recently become involved in a political protest around the sale of a site for housing even as it is zoned sports and recreation. A very long story short, this has brought up a few queries around planning, constitutional law and local government.

I have spoke to a few people and it really seems that my queries are very specific, so most solicitors won't be able to provide advice. I am trying to get on to FLAC, but no luck so far.

I am not sure if it is appropriate to post the issues here, but the first is around the zoning; can this be manipulated even if council are strongly saying that they will never change it (could a small sporting amenity such as tennis courts be provided and the rest left to housing, etc.). I have also heard that planning law may be changing in the future but I don't know if this is correct.

On the local government, meetings are taking place behind closed doors and it seems as if I am being ignored as I am asking to speak to council management - is all this okay? I have put in a FOI request, but have no response on that yet either, they can hardly ignore that too?

The constitutional law is obviously more broad, I understand that you only try constitutional law when everything else has been tried, however I feel certain passages in the local government section of the constitution go against what is happening in this case, but I am sure lot's of people think this so where is the burden of proof - is the constitution not even worth the paper it is written on in this case?

The answer is in a "Brown Envelope"

Mod
Take a day off from this forum

godtabh

yrreg0850 wrote: »

The answer is in a "Brown Envelope"

Its not.

Keen2win

Caranica wrote: »

Sites can be rezoned, though not as commonly these days as in the 90s.

Council meetings are streamed so I'm not sure what you mean about closed doors. Officials are also meeting via Zoom etc. If you're having issues contacting an official, your local councillors or TDs should be able to help.

A lot of county development plans are being drafted at the moment so looking at the history of the site and any draft plans might give you an idea.

Finally, under Rebuilding Ireland, a lot of planning conventions went out the window. In my experience of working with residents on controversial planning applications for four years, almost everything (once it meets the density requirements) gets approved these days if it's in a high demand area or well connected to public transport.

Thanks for that. I mean that members of the public are not being invited onto the stream of the meetings, should these meetings be open to the public? The local TD told me they should be, I am speaking to him from the start. I also have a FOI request in, lets see if they acknowledge receipt within 2 weeks as they are required to by law.

On the planning, all the councilors have come out and said it won't be rezoned. However, our committee are looking for it to be purchased and developed immediately. There is more to this story than I will share publicly on Boards.

If you would like more information just send me a PM. We have been covered in local media, and national media should be publishing a story soon. Our campaign page is https://www.facebook.com/LongfordGTA . We are actively looking for legal advice.