The Local Area Plans (LAP) for Gort, Athenry and Tuam which are being developed over the coming months must provide the blueprint for the delivery of much needed homes for Galway East.
A Local Area Plan sets out the vision for the development of our towns over the next 5 years and provide an opportunity to ensure land is zoned for Residential and Industrial purposes to ensure development is carried out in an orderly fashion.
“Experience will show that Local Area Plans zoned lands which were not serviced, not accessible for development or not for sale. This desk top zoning is not good enough and has curtailed development which has not served towns well.”
“I have seen where land has been zoned but is never developed as the land is not available whilst other land which is available remains unzoned. This has to stop and there needs to be more local input when the plans are being prepared”
“Galway County Council need to ensure that any land that is being zoned is available and must consult with landowners to confirm that zoned land is available, accessible and serviced with roads, water and sewerage.”
Housing supply is at a crisis in this country, and it is the responsibility of Local Authorities to be practical and ensure that there is an ample supply of zoned land available for the lifetime of the plan. This will bring competition into the price of development land and help reduce the cost of delivering housing.
We owe this to our young population who are presently being excluded from the housing market due to the non-availability of housing.
Towns like Tuam, Athenry, Gort and Loughrea can deliver housing but we need to ensure zoned land is available at a reasonable price to ensure the sustainability of these towns.