The Carrick-on-Suir Regeneration Plan will proceed to Part 8 of the planning process following a vote by Councillors this morning.
A special meeting of the Municipal District took place at 9am via Zoom and was over within 20 minutes.
The initial vote last month was deemed to be in breach of Standing Orders, as it didn’t take place in alphabetical order.
The result remained the same as the original vote, with urban councillors Kieran Bourke and David Dunne voting against it.
Councillor Bourke also believes that the planning process is now flawed and open to legal challenge.
Councillor Bourke called for his fellow councillors to abandon the progress made so far and start afresh, as a legal battle could be a costly affair for the taxpayers.
Councillor David Dunne concurred saying that there’s no way the vote should go ahead, as it will be expensive for everyone.
Local businessman Jim Butler has operated an electrical store on Main Street in Carrick for nearly 50 years.
He says the current layout allows the postal service and couriers to do deliveries without blocking traffic.
However, he feels plans to narrow the Main Street will cause bedlam.
“The way its proposed now if they stop it will cause traffic chaos.
“Now that’s only the small guys – I have big containers coming to me with washing machines and there’re be chaos.
“Every three weeks I have a WEE crew come along taking away the old machines and they spend two and a half hours on the street taking stuff away.
“I don’t see the reason why they need to make it narrower – what’s it doing for the street? Surely they can enhance the street in other ways.”
The plan will now go to Part 8 of the planning process with the amendment that there won’t be any parking spaces in front of houses in Sean Healy Park, as well as a space for loading and bikes etc.
