Kilcullen Local Area Plan — how the system works

Kildare's councillors will again try and agree to publish the Draft Local Area Plan for Kilcullen 2014-2020 at their monthly meeting on 31 March, writes Brian Byrne.

The document was supposed to go for public consultation last week, but discussion was deferred at the previous meeting of the Council at the request of Cllrs Keatley, Miley and Wall of the Athy Local Electoral Area. It was suggested that because Kilcullen was reverting to the Naas Electoral Area for the upcoming elections that it might be better left for consideration by the new councillors who would be representing the town. The argument was also made that the councillors had only received their copy of the Draft Plan in the week before, and had little time to absorb it.

The County Manager was against delay, and the matter was put back until next week's meeting.

The 84-page document outlines the Council policy for Kilcullen's development up to 2020 against the background of the overall County Kildare Development Plan 2011-2017 and the Regional Planning Guidelines for the Greater Dublin Area 2010-2022.

Once the councillors agree to its publication, the Draft LAP will go on public display for six weeks, to allow interested parties make submissions on its content. The County Manager will provide a report on those submissions to the Council some four weeks afterwards. The Council then has six weeks to consider the Plan before a vote on its adoption, or the insertion of any variances which seem necessary.

If there are such variances, then these have to go on public display for a further four weeks, and the Manager has a further four weeks to report to the Council on any further submissions.

It's very important that individuals, groups and organisations living within the Kilcullen LAP area study the Draft Plan and the implications of its content for their town, especially at its present stage of development. As the KCA-commissioned study Kilcullen 2017 — A Community Plan for Development showed, the demographic of the town is younger than the national average, and there is a strong need to ensure that the children who will grow into young adults here have a sustainable and well-designed community in which to do so.

We'll keep you informed on the Diary on the issue as we learn more about what's happening.