Oral Hearing collapses |
'Unbelievable discourtesy shown' |
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The Oral Hearing into the Waterford Bypass collapsed abruptly today
when Mr. McGuinness, the Senior council for the developer, indicated
at the opening of the hearing that he had received instructions from
his client and that consequently he intended to request an
adjournment of the Hearing. Mr. McGuinness stated that he
believed the appropriate time to make such a request was at the end
of evidence presented by the developer. (The developer comprises the
three Local Authorities, Waterford Co. Co., Waterford Corporation
and Kilkenny Co. Co.)
The reasons put forward by Mr. McGuinness for seeking the adjournment included the desirability of eliminating any perceived lack of certainty arising out of the issue of the incompatibility between maps included in the Bypass proposal and the variation to the Waterford Co. Co. Development plan. It should be noted that a Local Authority is not permitted to carry out a development that contravenes its own Development Plan but that despite this, the scheme presented by the developer to the Oral Hearing is in contravention of the Waterford County Council Development plan. Mr. Michael O'Donnell B.L. representing the Butlerstown Residents Association expressed his dissatisfaction with the situation and claimed that an attempt was being made to 'bleed my clients dry'. Waterford Co. Co. knew that the Development Plan was contravened at least 2 days before the Hearing opened and despite this the decision was made to proceed. Mr. O'Donnell said that it was a 'shocking way to treat me and the enquiry' and that the developer should 'withdraw their appeal and start again if they wished not to continue'. Several adjournments and resumptions took place during the day. Finally at about 6 p.m. the Hearing was adjourned until 11 a.m. Monday November 19th. 2001. Wednesday August 15th 2001 |
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