I object to the Abbey Creative Quarter Masterplan being voted on as stands, I object in principle because of the following I also object to any variations to the County development plan as it does not follow due process as set out in the recommendations of the Re-Visioning document:
The site has not yet had been signed off by the EPA and is therefore not decommissioned and signed over to the county council so it is therefore premature.
There is no urgency for for the plan to be rushed through in terms of funding as it has been confirmed by Martin Prenderville that there is in excess of 6 Billion euro available ISIF projects. Deputy John Deasy has also questioned in the PAC why the monies have not been drawn down, without careful consideration of the terms and conditions attached to the ISIF funds this would be considered to be irresponsible.
I also note that the ISIF funding is limited in scope and cannot be used for projects that will cause displacement of Jobs, have a “Deadweight” benefit or Additionality of jobs.
With a new CEO and senior executive team coming in to position in the next few weeks it is only right and proper that they get to analyse and evaluate the existing masterplan and and proposed variations to the County Development plan as they will be responsible for delivering these projects. I believe that it would be irresponsible of the County Councillors to vote on this draft plan at this stage.
At this stage the Masterplan is too vague to be voted on, once it is incorporated into the Kilkenny City and Environs Development plan it then is no longer an “aspirational” document but one that has statutory footing and is legally binding, the document needs much more work before it can be incorporated.
To date there has been a very high level of public engagement in terms of consultation both through engagement in the re-visioning workshops and written submission, unfortunately the recommendations from the public do not seem to be taken on board the new version of the Masterplan See Re-visioning document for details. For example the resounding opinion of the public which included Councillors Business people and citizens alike had an almost unanimous view that there should be a comprehensive archaeological excavation on the site, however the terms of reference of the Archaeological strategy set out by the executive falls far short of this and contains the excavation to 3 specific areas of the site.
It is a recommendation of the re-visioning document produced by the planning department see page number 76 recommendation number 5 that "The proposed Variation to the City and Environs Development plan will not commence until the Masterplan for the area has been finalised and approved by elected members of Kilkenny County Council, this process is not following that recommendation and is therefore flawed. I submit that this recommendation should be followed.
Footnote 63 of document named Proposed Variation No.1 of Kilkenny City and Environs Development plan 2014-2020 puts the Masterplan on a statutory footing and this again goes against recommendation No.5 of the Re-Visioning document.
At the County Council meeting of July 20th 2015 a motion was put forward to the Council for representatives of minority sports to make representation to the county council, this motion was supported unanimously by the elected members and Cllr Andrew McGuinness pointed out that a commitment had already been made by the Borough Council to provide a rink as part of the plan, this needs to be further explored before the Masterplan is put on a Statutory footing in the County Development plan.
I conclude that it is irresponsible to vote on this Masterplan document at this time, it should be deemed unwise and irresponsible to vote on a plan of this scale which will have have such a significant bearing on this generation and for many generations to come without much more discussion, consultation and the exact implications of any such vote, it is rare that such a plan would come before any council and caution, due process, deep and careful consideration of the implications of the plan should be at the forefront of each of the Councillors minds before voting on this and I urge the councillors to take their time and to consider the legacy they will be involved in leaving behind for our future generations.
Remember, like Rome, Kilkenny wasn’t built in a day. Our history dates back to the early 6th century, let’s not be hasty in making decisions that will be around for the future…