An independent councillor on Meath County Council has called for an apology from the council chief executive for failing to correct “incorrect statements” made by some councillors on land zoning at a recent meeting of the council. Brian Fitzgerald said that a number of incorrect statements about zoning and planning had been made at a meeting on 10th November last. These “incorrect” statements had been subsequently published, he said. He had walked out of that meeting in protest at the removal of a notice of motion on land for housing which he tried to table at the meeting.
The motion had been submitted for inclusion on the agenda by independent councillors including Cllr Fitzgerald. They had proposed that lands which had been dezoned in the current county development land, now be zoned for housing development. He said the development plan was the reserve function of the councillors and he expressed “disgust” that the executive had removed the motion.
In a statement today he said the motion did not seek to zone lands. It was the start of a process (following the Minister’s direction (from July 2025). The motion requested the Chief Executive to prepare a report on the lands previously dezoned/phased to post 2027 under the section 13(1A) of the Planning Act. The original motion was amended at the request of management and this request was complied with. The motion was to request the Chief Executive to prepare a report on the proposal tp vary the County Development Plan 2021-2027, he said.
Cllr Fitzgerald said it was stated by some Councillors that zoning these lands would “breach planning law”, would be to “disregard legal advice and potentially face court proceedings”, “would not be responsible governance”, would be a “rejection of professional planning advice” and “would only serve the benefit of land speculators”.
He said there was an obligation on the Chief Executive and the Director of Planning to advise the people who made those statements that they were incorrect and this went uncontradicted by management. “The signatories to the motion are entitled to an apology from the Chief Executive and the Director of Planning. I call on the Councillors who made those statements to withdraw them and apologise to the six Councillors who put forward the motion in good faith, acting on the Minister’s Direction for the benefit of the people of Meath”.
“All of the lands for which the report was sought *had been previously zoned
*had been subject to all necessary studies (including flooding)
*had been proposed by Meath County Council planners and management
*had been adopted by the Councillors
It is now wrong to say that all of these people who engaged in the making of the Development Plan acted unprofessionally and contrary to advice and planning law, he added. Giving the background to the issue Cllr Fitzgerald said that in July last Minister for Housing James Bowne had issued a direction to county councils said that guidelines he issued provided the basis for a consistent approach to be taken by planning authorities in incorporating national and regionally based population and housing projections of the revised NPF into the statutory plans such as the preparation of the city/county development plan and the preparation of the housing strategy, informed by the Housing Need and Demand Assessment process outlined in the NPO47 of the revised NPF.
Cllr Fitzgerald said the Minister’s direction emphasised the need for speed in order to address the current housing crisis. It was a policy and objective of these guidelines that planning authorities “should use all available means to ensure that the objectives of these guidelines are incorporated within development plans “as quickly as possible through the variation of the current adopted development plan”.
Dealing with the 2021 development plan lands, Cllr Fitzgerald said that as directed by the Office of Planning Regulator the review of the Meath development plan in 2021 took account of the “then out-of-date population figures et out in the National Planning Framework which resulted in the dezoning of significant lands that were zoned in the 2019 development plan. Other lands were “phased” to be brought forward for development after 2027. “The only reason for the dezoning/post 2027 phasing of the lands was to comply with the population targets set out in the National Planning Framework.
The NPF population target was based on 196,000 which was below the actual population of Meath in 2021. The population of Meath was subsequently determined by the census to be 220,826 in 2022. All of these lands were previously zoned and deemed appropriate for
development by the council’s planning officials and management and the Department of Housing and Office of Planning Regulator following all of the necessary studies re flood risk assessment, strategic environmental assessment and habitats directive assessment”.
He said the best approach was to bring forward parcels of land throughout Meath which were best placed to promote delivery of housing as opposed to bringing forward a very small number of large parcels of land which would require significant new roads and services and likely to attract significant opposition, thus slower delivery of housing contrary to the Minister’s direction. The appropriate time to consider large parcels of land was the review of the development plan which has commenced and will be complete in about two years, he said.
