‘Town plan’ calls for Convoy at Lifford Stranorlar MD

Cllr Patrick McGowan (FF) has urgently requested Donegal County Council to expedite “some sort of a town plan” for Convoy.

“Convoy doesn’t have any plan and you can build wherever you want lately,” he claimed at the April meeting of the Lifford Stranorlar Municipal District. 

In relation to the sporadic nature of some developments, he further claimed that the council “were making the rules and were the first to break them”.

He said: “There is just so much development and stuff going on. It’s like the big towns now, it’s all the zoning and restrictions, there’s quotas. Convoy doesn’t have any plan.”

Cllr McGowan added: “I know that it may not be a full scale statutory plan as that doesn’t meet the criteria, but there are different levels of it and it might not necessarily come under the planning office and might come under Community and Enterprise or even economic development.”

He affirmed that “something needed to be done” and there were “ways around” getting a full scale town plan.

Donna Callaghan, area planner, said that she was awaiting confirmation from her colleagues in the Community Development Office as to whether there had been any funding awarded to groups in Convoy to undertake a “health check” or an “action plan” and she assured members that she would get back to them as soon as she had any more details.

Cllr Gary Doherty (SF) suggested that there were a number of towns currently within the MD who were getting their community and village plans developed. 

With regard to the health check and regeneration plans, he said there didn't appear to be any taking place within the Lifford Stranorlar MD at present.

“I think that the council should be taking on, whether it's the pilot project or whatever way we do it, to try and get at least one community health check and one town or village plan completed in each MD, each year.”  

He said such a method would ensure “there was balance across the county and to help out communities who are actively trying to promote their town and regenerate it”. 

“There is a lot of work that goes into it from volunteer groups. I think that if the council were to step in and say we are going to fund a health check in one town in each MD each year, that would be something proactive. That would help these community groups and help towns to come up with these plans on how they are going to develop into the future.” 

In formally proposing the suggestion, even if they could only hold the remit within their own MD area in the first instance, he received the backing of Cllr Gerry Crawford (FF), who seconded the proposal.