Zoning

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="04b785a3.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Councillor Keith Martin </B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Councillor Keith Martin "><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="news21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="News"><U><I><B><U>Back to news page</U></B></I></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <IMG SRC="07e89bd0.jpg" border=0 width="137" height="189" ALT="Large photo Councillor Keith Martin" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>Zoning</I></div> <div> An Independent member of Westport Town Council, Cllr Keith Martin, says that in his opinion there is already enough land zoned within the town’s boundaries to cope with the population increase expected.</div> <div> Cllr Martin is critical of the plan to zone 180 acres of land outside of the town for housing saying "It is poor planning to have Westport’s environs competing with Westport Town in relation to housing. Given the issues surrounding one-off housing and the beauty of the Westport area it would be a mistake to allow massive areas outside the town to be zoned for housing when so many acres are already zoned in Westport and even more will be zoned under the South Westport Local Area Plan. There is no demand that will justify such zoning outside the town."</div> <div> "Already there is 180 acres in Westport zoned for housing. In the South Westport Local Area Plan we are looking at zoning 150 acres more. There is no need to zone an additional 180 acres outside of the town."</div> <div> Cllr Martin has also stated that he believes the proposal to re-zone the area known as the ‘Coursing Field’ is inappropriate. Cllr Martin says he would question the reasoning of such a zoning proposal. </div> <div> Cllr Martin says "It would be very poor planning to re-zone a recreational area for commercial-residential reasons given the fact that there is so little land zoned for recreational use. This will remove the only recreationally zoned land in the Westport area.</div> <div> "To change this zoning can only be of benefit to the landowner and of detriment to the people of Westport whose needs for recreational space will only increase."</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>