Annual Report 2005 - English Version ( pdf file - 3340 kb in size)

Limerick County Council Annual Report 2005Registration of QuarriesSection 261 of the Planning and Development Act 2000was enacted on 28th April 2004. This section requiredall quarries operating in County Limerick, except thosethat received planning permission in the last five yearsto register with Limerick County Council before 27thApril 2005.The Council received 53 applications for registrationand these applications are under consideration at thepresent time.Information SeminarsIn March at the Southcourt Hotel, Raheen, anInformation Seminar for agents and architects washeld with 120 people attending. The objective of theseminar was to explain to agents the main changesin the County Development Plan adopted inFebuary 2005.Also in September 2005 a seminar on Rural HouseDesign was held for agents in the Council Chamber,County Hall, Dooradoyle. Speakers at this seminarincluded Mr Mike Shanahan, Architect and Co-Authorof the Cork Rural Design Guide and Cllr. Alan ColemanCork County Council.Agents were also briefed at this seminar in relationto the high numbers of applications being invalidated(approx 25% during 2005). Agents were appraisedon the most common reasons for the invalidation ofapplications and advised on the resource and timeimplications both to the applicant and the PlanningAuthority and the importance of making everyeffort to ensure that applications are formulated inaccordance with the regulations prior to submission.Finger Post LicencesUnder the Planning and Development Regulations aFinger Post Licence is required if you wish to place ormaintain a finger post sign on a public roadway. Thepurpose of the licence is to regulate the amount ofdirectional signs being erected on our public roads.During the year 6 new applications were received and48 existing applications renewed.ConservationBy the end of 2005 there were 1,421 entries in theRecord of Protected Structures maintained by thisplanning authority. During the course of the yearunder review the County Development Plan 2005- 2011, in which Architectural Conservation Areaswere established for the first time, was adopted. Over25 different places, around significant sites such asAdare Manor, and in many of our towns and villages,are protected from insensitive development by thismeasure.There were 90 applications for assistance under theprovisions of the Conservation Grant Scheme forProtected Structures. 62 Certificates of ProvisionalApproval were issued and, by the end of the yeara total of 52 payments, with a combined value inexcess of €380,000, had been made. This exceeded theprevious year’s disbursement by over €220,000. Sumsawarded ranged from €900 to augment grant aid beingreceived from another grant awarding authority to€25,000 for major conservation works on the roof of aparish church.Works in progress on terraced thatched house at KilfinnyCounty Development Plan68