MEATH COUNTY Council has said there is no “specific timeline” on when councillors will vote on a conservation plan for the Tara/ Skryne area.
The plan was originally mooted by former minister for the environment Dick Roche, after he had approved the final route of the M3 motorway through Co Meath.
The draft landscape conservation plan has led to opposing claims by supporters and opponents, and an information meeting on it by the county council had to be abandoned in August after council staff were subjected to what a council spokeswoman described as “a high level of inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour” from a small number of people.
It is a pilot project and if adopted by the council the next stage would be to prepare an action plan that would look at options for managing the Hill of Tara and other State-owned lands.
Before the county councillors can vote on whether to adopt the plan, they must consider a report by the county manager on the 348 submissions made on it.
Some of the submissions are highly critical. Locals fear, for instance, it would result in family members being refused planning permission in the future. The council says it would not affect its policy on one-off rural housing.
Other submissions from groups such as the Meath Archaeological and Historical Society are in favour of the plan.
The councillors had agreed to debate the manager’s report last month, but then its corporate policy group, made up of councillors and officials, agreed to defer the debate on the morning it was to take place.
The council spokeswoman said: “The plan was deferred to allow for further information and clarification processes . . . There are no specific timelines regarding the presentation of the manager’s report to the elected members.”