No guarantee against opening roads through Laois housing estates into new developments

As the population of Laois and Portlaoise continues to rise, a growing issue concerning residents is the opening of access roads to new Laois property residential developments through existing long established housing estates.

This week Laois County Council refused to guarantee residents of Dun Masc and Heathfields housing estates that through roads will not happen in the future, into adjacent land that it recently rezoned as suited for more houses.

Cllr Paddy Buggy had asked for the guarantee on their behalf, in a motion tabled to the September meeting of Portlaoise Municipal District.

He asked Laois County Council to take on board the concerns raised by the residents in submissions made recently against the rezoning of land beside the estates, as Residential 2.

“I appreciate this is part of the planning process, but there were 14 letters of concern submitted when the zoning was going on. It is an issue for the people who live there. I believe that Higgs Lane needs to be upgraded and used as a main access to future developments.

“It is quite a busy road, even without further development in the area it could do with being upgraded and made safer for everyone who lives on Higgs Lane. But also for everyone who uses Higgs Lane to get from Ballyclider side to the old Dublin road.

“I do think that we shouldn’t be driving through existing housing estates when we’re building new estates. There should be separate access for them. The fact that Higgs Lane is already there, albeit needing an upgrade, I think that’s the route that should be used,” Cllr Buggy said.

Cllr Barry Walsh seconded the motion.

“Higgs Lane is quite busy road as it is, it would be wise to future plan for any other developments. As it stands, there’s a high volume of traffic on it. There’s parts where cars have to pull in to let others pass. It’s worth getting a plan in place,” he said.

A senior council planning official had given a written reply to the motion, saying that any future planning application will be assessed on its own merits.

“The planning authority cannot provide a guarantee in advance of the submission or assessment of a planning application regarding the route of access to the site”.

They said that criteria for assessing a route will include traffic impact assessments, road safety audits and other necessary documents. They say the would consult the roads department when considering any and all viable accesses.

It is three months since the contentious 11.39 hectare (28 acre) site off the Dublin Road was rezoned, proposed at the time by Cllr Buggy. He had commented “I needn’t look for votes in there now,”.

The proposed rezoning had received 25 submissions from residents of Dun Masc estate, objecting to the potential use of Dun Masc as an access route. The land could be accessed through Heathfields estate and from Higgs Lane.

Cllr Catherine Fitzgerald had proposed omitting that site from the county wide rezonings at the time, but no other councillor would second her.

It was one of 88 zoning changes across 25 Laois towns and villages, a total of 635 acres It laid the path for 8,000 potential more homes, done on request by the Government to address the housing crisis.