Forestry planning applications need to come back before Mayo County Council

APPLICATIONS for new forestry plantations should be coming before the council for approval.

Local communities should be informed about these developments, Bonniconlon Councillor John O'Hara told a meeting of Mayo County Council.

He highlighted an area in north Mayo where digging has started setting up forestry on three plots.

Locals hadn't known it was happening, a notice having been put in a place where you wouldn't see it, he stated.

There were people who have lived in the area for 80 years and now a big forest was coming and locals would be living with it for the rest of their lives.

People should be written to, to give them notice of what is happening, said Councillor O'Hara. Instead, the machines went in last Monday and they didn't know what was happening.

This will be happening more with more forestry and people should be notified when planning goes in, he said.

It is wrong, he continued, that someone can come up and start planting beside your house. There needed to be more stipulations, at the very least informing people.

His north Mayo colleague Councillor Michael Loftus said they should write to the Minister for Agriculture, Charlie McConalogue, requesting that councils take back these planning applications.

This application went to the Department of Forestry. An environmental impact study was done by the fisheries.

Why was the council not informed of this, he asked, with permission granted last September, and no communication with the community.

Planning for forestry should come back to the council, said Councillor Loftus. They had to request this from Minister McConalogue.