*Photograph: John Mangan
AN APPEAL by the Retailers of Ennis group to give a presentation to the Ennis Municipal District with their “street by street” vision for the town has been rejected.
Officials in Clare County Council declined the attempts of the Retailers of Ennis Group which was shared by Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) at Tuesday’s meeting of the Ennis Municipal District.
In a proposal, he said a twenty to thirty minute presentation from the group which has representatives from each street in Ennis would help county councillors “in the preparation of the Ennis volume of County Development Plan” by sharing “their vision street by street”. There are sixty independent retailers in the Retailers of Ennis group according to John O’Connor of Custy’s Music.
Acting senior planner in the Council’s planning department, Gareth Ruane outlined that consultation events were recently held on the draft development plan “which were open to all members of the public to attend, in Ennis and other areas of the county”. He confirmed that there would be an opportunity to liaise with Council officials with a stall as part of the St Patrick’s Day festival.
Ruane added, “We are currently accepting written submissions on the draft Plan up to the 28th of March and it is considered that this would be the most appropriate mechanism for the ‘Retailers of Ennis’ group, or any other group, to make a formal submission and outline their points to us. All submissions will be considered as part of the Managers Report on the Plan” .
Senior executive officer, Leonore O’Neill stated in response to Cllr Flynn’s motion, “Councillors need to be aware of the equity of facilitating a meeting with one particular group and not other interests groups”.
As he encouraged the public to make their submissions to the draft, Cllr Flynn said he thought rate contribution equating at 30 percent of the Council’s budget at county level warranted their involvement in a briefing or presentation.
