Councillors not officials must decide where travellers halting sites are located says de Burca
Green Party councillor, Deirdre de Burca, rejected a recent recommendation from Wicklow County Council’s Housing Strategic Policy Committee that the selection of sites for traveller’s halting bays in the north of the county should be a matter for the council officials.
The committee recommended that the council adopt a policy that one five-bay halting site be located in each of the three Electoral Areas of North County Wicklow (i.e. Bray, Greystones and Wicklow Electoral Areas) and that these sites be no more than 5 bays per site. Cllr de Burca said she had no difficulty with this recommendation but that she could not support the second part of it.
The recommendation went on to say that “the selection of the site will be a matter for the Executive of the Council to identify and proceed via the statutory planning process and that all three sites be progressed simultaneously”. Cllr de Burca objected strongly to the suggestion that elected representatives would have no say in the selection of the sites.
“We are all aware that the selection of sites can be an extremely sensitive and difficult issue for local representatives says de Burca. “However, to suggest that it should therefore be handed over completely to un-elected officials is just not acceptable as far as I am concerned” says de Burca. “There is very little point in communities electing representatives if they have no role in making such important decisions. I certainly will not be supporting the committee’s recommendation”.
