Introduction
The Croom area development plan was adopted on the 21st December 2009 at the December Limerick County Council meeting. Patrick C. Fitzgerald, Independent, proposed the adoption. Councillor Patrick Fitzgerald thanked the planning management team, the county manager, Ned Gleeson, County Secretary, Euguene Griffin the planners Gerry Beehan, Tom Enright, Bernie Quinlivan and Marie Woods. In proposing the area plan Councillor Fitzgerald hoped to bring this plan to fruition over the next 5 years. He stated that it was a detailed plan including many issues. These issues include the following items.
Population
The population of Croom has increased by 3% over the last 20 years. From 2002 to the 2006 the population declined by a total of 11 people (1.04% of a decline). The Croom rural area electoral division experienced a population increase of 10% from 1986 to 2006.
Flooding and Flood Plains
In compiling the area plan the concerns of the people of Croom about flooding had to be taken into account. The residents and the business people of Croom had suffered greatly with the Mauige flooding in homes and in shops. Various amendments had been made to the proposed draft area plan with regard with any developments on the embankments of the river Mauige.
Development Constraints
The town suffers from a number of constraints which has impacted negatively on its ability to develop including:
1. The lack of capacity in the towns sewerage system
2. The lack of capacity in the towns water supply
3. Traffic congestion
4. In the past, poor public transport links to city and else where. This has improved over the past 2 years with City Link service providing a 2 hour service to the Atlantic corridor from Galway to Cork.
5. Lack of investment which led to a high rate of vacancy and dereliction in buildings.
Education
The proposal to build a new community college which will cater for approx. 800 students should enhance the town as an education centre. The original proposal for the college was to build adjacent to the existing building and some infrastructure had been put in place with regard to link roads however, the local area boundary plan was extended from the 2003 draft plan and now it is proposed to build the college in the Skagh townland.
Economic Development
To facilitate and encourage appropriate industrial, enterprise and commercial development the proposal of enterprise centres was put forward and planning permission has been put in place. This will hopefully bring very much needed employment to the Maigueside town.
Residential Development
In the 2005 – 2011 area plan the area theoretically had zoning for 490 housing units in an area of 28.48 ha. The majority if this area is still currently undeveloped. In proposing the new area plan for Croom this available residential zoning area was considered ample for development in these recessionary times. If development where to take place it would take many decades to see these residential developments coming to fruition.
Service Sites
In the proposed plan a unique proposal with regard to service site development was put forward. This is a concept involving single unit house developments which could be accommodated by the existing services that are available.
Croom linking to other areas
Croom is a very historical town. It was home to one of the principle manors in the Munster area. Croom castle is also located on the river Mauige which was belonging to the Earls of Desmond (the Fitzgeralds). It would be hoped to link the town of Croom and other county towns to towns and cities throughout Europe and America. With the advent of broadband it would be hoped to link with these areas and exchange community and commercial programmes. This could also have great benefits for education. 44000 Crooms exist in the United States and there is a great interest in linking with these towns and some exchanges of ideas has already taken place.
Community/Sporting open space
In the area plan there was an emphasis on creating special outdoor areas for sporting and community activities. This open space area has been designated adjacent to the schools and colleges and would accommodate pupils of the national school of Croom to participate in sport and community games.
Service Road
An extension to the existing service road has been proposed which would alleviate the traffic congestion through the town. The existing service road had been constructed during the 2003 area plan but was never put into use.
Conclusion
The whole focus of the plan for Croom is to take into account tourism, culture, retail development, sporting and recreation development, town infrastructure and residential development, to help develop the area into a compact community orientated town with commercial strength.