*University of Limerick
PLANS for Europe’s first twenty first century university town will remain shelved unless the second phase of the Limerick Northern Distributor Road (LNDR) is brought back to life.
Chief Executive of Clare County Council, Gordon Daly has confirmed he has commenced discussions with senior officials in Limerick City and County Council to revive plans for phase two of the LNDR.
Clare County Council and the University of Limerick (UL) spent six years working on an application for the South Clare Strategic Development Zone (SDZ) where they identified a 300 hectare site that they calculated would create 3,500 plus jobs and generate €1.795bn to the Irish economy annually.
Twelve months ago, UL’s Governing Authority recommended that the application for the SDZ designation to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage be withdrawn.
UL cited “multi-faceted” reasons for the withdrawal, the application had been made to the Department in February 2022. “Among the reasons for withdrawing are infrastructure such as Limerick Northern Distributor Road, alignment with academic programme development at this time, imminent changes in planning legislation and the current governance situation of the University,” Acting President of UL, Professor Shane Kilcommins outlined in correspondence to Clare County Council last November.
Arguing that the SDZ cannot happen without the LNDR “is misleading,” Cllr Michael Begley (IND) argued at the time. “I don’t think the LNDR and UL are inter-dependent. It is misleading to say the two of those should be tied into the other,” he stated. Ex Council Chief Executive, Pat Dowling said in response to his comments, “you are absolutely right”.
However Dowling’s successor, Gordon Daly does not seem to think Cllr Begley is “absolutely right”.
There is no mention of the SDZ in his seven-year structural plan for the County Council which he unveiled at the beginning of September. The LNDR must be enabled in order to progress the SDZ, he said.
In October, the first phase of the LNDR linking linking Coonagh to Knockalisheen opened to traffic. Phase two was scrapped by ex Transport Minister Eamon Ryan (GP) in 2022 in favour of increased investment in public transport, including a new train station at Moyross.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Chief Executive Daly outlined that the SDZ will not progress without the LNDR. “A key enabler of any expansion of the University of Limerick is the Limerick Northern Distributor Road so any further expansion of the University of Limerick or growth of that area is dependent on the Limerick Northern Distributor Road so I believe that needs to be enabled first, notwithstanding that the proposal hasn’t progressed, there was land zoned in the County Development Plan and has been for quite a period of time and objectives to support the expansion of the University of Limerick on the Clare side, that remains”.
He added, “The SDZ would have been a vehicle to achieve planning consent in relation to that, while that hasn’t progressed, it shouldn’t be lost that the Clare County Development Plan is the primary document and it calls out the ability for the University to expand for a range of associated uses”.
Daly confirmed that he has held conversations with his former colleagues in Limerick City and County Council to put new life back into efforts for phase two of the LNDR. “The Limerick Northern Distributor Road is critical to unblocking that, we need to get that back on the agenda, I’ve begun some engagement with Limerick City and County Council in relation to that because it is joint project, there is consensus of agreement that we reopen discussions on that, both local authorities have made a submission to the National Development Plan which have asked for the inclusion and progression of the Limerick Northern Distributor Road, both local authorities are in agreement on that and we will be meeting soon again to see how we can prepare the business case and reactivate the project, that is the first key step to unlocking that potential, it is a huge priority and a huge opportunity for South-East Clare”.
Nothing will change for the SDZ unless there is progress with the LNDR. “I would say a strategic development zone is a planning mechanism, it is a means of achieving planning consent, the objectives of the County Development Plan to facilitate the expansion of the University of Limerick remain, the SDZ not progressing doesn’t take away from the primacy of the County Development Plan and the objective of Clare County Council to facilitate the expansion of the University of Limerick, that can still occur and is occurring but by means of access from the Limerick side so if there is more expansion required on the Clare side and planning applications come in they can be looked at favourably but certainly even with the SDZ proposal the Limerick Northern Distributor Road was always key to accessing those lands, there was also going to be a key enable to it so the initial priority will be to reactivate work on that route”.
