Munster Express Online

It was important that existing residences in the Belview area were protected in the Freeybank-Belview Local Area Plan, said Kilkenny County Manager, Joe Crocket, when he responded to concerns voiced by local people in a number of submissions on the draft plan which has been put on public display.

The County Manager said existing residential sites may have been incorrectly zoned. These houses would be zoned in the plan under ‘Belview Residential Amenity’ to protect the dwellings and allow growth within the strategic context of the port facility.

The Belview Residential amenity zoning would be on appropriate lands surrounding and adjoining houses as ‘open space’ and ‘landscape’. Buffers of five metres minimum between existing houses and the boundaries of future industrial development would be created. It was envisaged that access to the area would be gained through the existing local road network.

The Port of Waterford Company claimed in a submission that the Belview Residential Amenity zoning was inappropriate within the vicinity of the port and they also sought the ‘delisting’ of the Glass House in Belview.

In reply he County Manager repeated that the existing residences would be protected. The Glass House was identified as a protected structure in the County Kilkenny Development Plan and it would be impossible to ‘delist’ it through the LAP process.

The Manager agreed with a submission to include a separate policy within the plan focusing on the provision of improved rail access to the port as six weekly freight trips took place at the present time.