Plan sustains core areas of the towns

The new Cavan County Development Plan seeks to sustain and expand the core areas of the towns through the promotion of existing business life and encouraging development within town centres as far as is possible. The county manager, Jack Keyes, told the Anglo-Celt in relation to the objectives of the new County Development Plan and the new Development Plan for Cavan Town and Environs, that in current times much development in many towns was on the outskirts. It was the county council"s view that this was undesirable and it was encouraging as much substantial development as possible close to town centres. 'This doesn"t preclude some development on the periphery but it is important to keep the right balance,' Mr. Keyes said. Local plans According to Paula Cumiskey, one of Cavan County Council"s Planning team, the main objective of the new 2008-14 plan is sustainable development and proper planning for the entire county. Within each of the large towns and also within the smaller towns and villages individual plans were prepared and incorporated into the county plan. In terms of zoning there were also new masterplans, the objective of which was to encourage integrated development. 'We would require ourselves or a developer to have an integrated plan for that area and that would have to go in as part of the planning application,' she said. 'The whole idea is to create towns that are for their communities. We want to create a town where people want to live and work and recreate - the master plan will help to achieve this.' Hub towns Cavan town and environs has its own masterplan. It is a hub town and a requirement under the National Spatial Strategy is that it achieves a population of 16,000 by 2020. Mr. Keyes says the hope is to achieve this population level before the target date. The county town and its environs currently have a population of around 12,000 and the onward expansion of Cavan has to be achieved in a sustainable fashion with the provision of services being an important factor in this - as well as the utilisation of land currently unused in the town and its environs. The provision of additional transportation routes to serve the urban area, such as a new link from the Dublin road near Brady"s Garage to the town centre via the Tullymongan area, is also envisaged as well as the extension of a ring road around the town, comprising the bypass, the bypass connection to Moynehall and a further extension of that to the Arva/ Killeshandra road. Mr. Keyes acknowledges that there are challenges involved in the growth of Cavan town but adds that the county council is confident it can overcome issues that arise. Commercial He states that both the County Development Plan and the Cavan Town and Environs Plan have zoned adequate land for industrial and commercial development. 'Any lack of progress in regard to foreign direct investment isn"t as a result of any deficiencies within any past plans. The plan encourages the private sector to develop sites that can be used for industrial development. The IDA park is available for a substantial industry and we are actively marketing that,' he says. According to the county manager it is the objective of the new development plans to create a county where there is a quality of life that attracts local and outside investment. Jobs boost Speaking of new industry Mr. Keyes revealed his hope of a new job announcement in Cavan in the near future. He stressed the importance of the other towns to the wellbeing of the county and refers to the Local Area Plans prepared for Bailieboro, Cootehill, Virginia, Ballyconnell, Ballyjamesduff, Belturbet, Kingscourt and Mullagh. The new Cavan County Development Plan states that Cavan County Council recognises the importance of the large towns in the county. Such towns act as strategic locations for the physical, economic and social development of their areas and of the county as a whole. Rural housing On the subject of rural housing the county manager says that the situation is substantially unchanged from the outgoing plan but concedes that as time goes on the criteria the council has to follow will be stricter than in previous decades. 'We are keen to strike a balance between maintaining rural population and communities on the one hand and not allowing a large volume of housing that would be aesthetically and environmentally damaging to the beauty of the countryside on the other. Ideally most of the development outside the major towns should happen in the small towns and villages where services already exist,' says Mr. Keyes. The provision of water and sewerage is one of the major challenges because of the increased environmental standards that are required and also because of the increased demands of a rising population. 'The local authority now must provide 30% of the cost of all new facilities. This is funded largely from development contributions but we"re confident that we can provide adequate infrastructure to cater for future needs,' Mr. Keyes concluded.