At a recent Community Liaison meeting it was announced that the marine works for Greystones Harbour, including 2 Public slipways, would be completed by June 2010 which is about 4 months later than hoped. Sispar, the PPP partner of Wicklow County Council, are working late into the evening to complete this work.
The Draft of the next County Development Plan has been circulated to Councillors for decision in September. I have done as study of the new houses in the area and the population figures in the Plan greatly underestimate the growth that has already taken place in Greystones. The last accurate population figure of 14,600 was the 2006 Census, but since then a large number of houses have been completed and occupied and many are being built now and these have almost been ignored in the population estimates. The allocation of…
· Intimidation. A number of local residents told me that they had felt intimidated by people connected with Abwood. This is totally unacceptable to me. · Move It. Abwood should have moved to a legal site after the first Court case in 2004, which it lost. People connected to the company had sites in Tullow and I think Glenealy. I understand it is now moving to Tullow, the Glenealy site may have been sold. · This was the greatest breach of Planning Laws in Wicklow. How could Councillors ask people…
A State scheme for crèche provision is being introduced and conditions are being discussed. The State is intending to pay €64.50 per week for 38 weeks per year. A charge of €80 per week is normal at present as crèches have major overheads and legal obligations to comply with. Apparently parents will not be allowed to top up the State paid amount. This low amount and lack of top up will cause major problems as the service cannot be delivered for this. A realistic fee must be agreed so…
This is well used but is owned by the Golf Club. I negotiated with them to improve it jointly with the Council. This is now paved and much better. The little used one at Pavillion Road was closed, as it was a source of anti-social behaviour.
The planning rules provide for a minimum plot size of a quarter of an acre and a ban on apartments in the Old Burnaby. The ban on apartments was initially removed when the last Development Plan was being prepared but I demanded and got it reinstated. I supported the area becoming an Architectural Conservation Area in this Plan. I am very keen that the atmosphere of the Burnaby is maintained and think that the planning rules have succeeded in doing this over some time. I worked as a Committee Member…
The Minister for Environment and Local Government, John Gormley (Green Party) has instructed Local Councils to give the entire saving on the staff pension levy back to his Department even though the Council funds and pays its staff pensions. This is robbery as staff wages are partly paid from Business Rates and Water Charges as well as the Government Grant. The savings from the wages sacrifice of the staff and Councillors should go to reduce Rates on hard-pressed businesses. This emerged at Mondays meeting of Wicklow County Council when I…
I am strongly opposed to the present alleged expansion which has been done without planning permission. There is permission, from about 20 years ago, for use as a private airfield. There have been a number of Enforcement Actions by the Council over the years to prevent commercial use and expansion. If they want to expand they should apply for planning permission like anyone else. The Council has recently initiated Enforcement Action against the owner.
This path from St. Francis National School to the village is finally complete. 9 years ago, when I was first elected to the Council, I started pressing for this as I considered that there should be a footpath from the village to the Primary School. Also many children from the Church Lane area have to get down the road to get the bus to Kilcoole schools. The century old footpath had been worn away by traffic and walking was very dangerous. Walking to school is good for the fitness and…
I attended the Armistice Day Commerations on the 11th November in Ieper and Messines, Belgium on the 90th anniversary of the Armistice, which ended the first World War, being signed. I laid a wreath at the Island of Ireland Peace Park, Messines in commemoration of WicklowMen who died in the Great War. The Mayors of Cork, Waterford, Tipperary, Kerry and some Northern Ireland Councils also laid wreaths. Bands from Cork and Tipperary and a choir from Tipperary provided music at this ceremony. President Mary McAlese and Queen Elizabeth opened the…
© 2024 Councillor Derek Mitchell.
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