25 August 2003: Councillors who voted against an application by IMC (Naas) Ltd to allow a material contravention of the town’s development plan to accommodate a 9-screen cinema complex in Millennium Park said today they have been vindicated by a decision of An Bord Pleanala to refuse an appeal by the applicants against that decision.
In a statement, Councillors Mary Glennon, Charlie Byrne, Pat McCarthy and Anthony Egan said they are ‘heartened’ by the Planning Bord’s decision which agreed with the objection that the proposed development was ‘remote from the town’ and that there ‘was already land zoned’ in Oldtown for a multiplex cinema.
County manager Niall Bradley and a team from the County Council’s planning department made a strong presentation in favour of the Millennium Park proposal at a Naas Town Council meeting in January.
Councillors voting in favour of the material contravention were the then Mayor Timmy Conway, Cllrs Eibhlin Bracken, Pat O’Reilly, Seamie Moore, and Willie Callaghan. Cllr Anthony Egan abstained in the vote, but his stance was declared ‘a vote against’ by the Mayor. The decision led to unruly scenes and strong language in the Council chamber.
The statement from the councillors against the original proposal is as follows:
An Bord Plenala has refused the appeal by the promotors of this project. In their decision the Bord said that the proposed development is remote from the town and that suitable, zoned land is available much closer to the town centre. Furthermore, An Bord Plenala said it would be contrary to proper planning and development of the area.
When Naas Town Council discussed this proposal, these were the exact points made by us and the reasons why we voted against it. At the time we were strongly criticised by Council officials and five councillors who were in favour of moving the cinema to this remote site. We are heartened that An Bord Plenala has clearly vindicated our decision.
We continue to call on the developers of the Oldtown Estate/Millennium Park to provide a site for this badly needed amenity closer to the town centre.
Unfortunately, they have sold the site that was zoned for the cinema in 1999, to Tesco, a fact that was not revealed to us when the planning application for the cinema on the new Millennium Park site was voted on.
We hope a lesson has been learned from this fiasco. We are even more determined than ever that Naas will get the amenities it so badly needs through proper planning and development. We will do this in the face of pressure from vested interests. As councillors we are commited to fight for these principles.
Issued on August 26, 2003 by Cllrs Mary Glennon, Charlie Byrne, Pat McCarthy and Anthony Egan.
