| Wicklow People | 26th December 2002 | staff reporter |
THE OUTCOME of legal proceedings being taken by elected members of Wicklow County Council, which opened in the High court this week, is expected to have huge implications for local democracy. Four County councillors - Nicky Kelly, Pat Doran, Tommy Cullen, and Sylvester Bourke -are seeking to establish that a county manager cannot ignore a section 140 decision and do something contrary to the wishes of the elected members.
The members initiated their High Court proceedings against the county manager over granting planning permission for the conversion of a milking parlour at Redcross for use as a pet crematorium. Two days of legal argument took place in the High Court on Thursday and Friday this week and the case will be continued on January 14.
On Thursday the councillors applied to the Court for leave to bring a challenge by way of a judicial review to quash the manager's decision of July 13,2000, to grant planning permission for the conversion of the premises at Oghill, Redcross.
The councillors also want an order directing the manager to comply with the direction to refuse planning permission. The manager argues that he was not obliged to comply with the resolution of July 10, 2000, pursuant to Section 4 of the City and County Management (Amendment) Act for a number of reasons and he argues that the elected members failed to confine themselves to relevant and legitimate matters and failed to disregard irrelevant and illegitimate factors.
The grant of planning permission is also under appeal to An Bord Pleanala, he added. In his affidavit, Cllr. Doran said that he had received a large number of representations from members of the public who were concerned about the nature of the proposed development on health grounds.
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