Network members Jackie and Shaun have set up `eco-communities` in Cornwall and on the Devon/Somerset border, and another – Richard Douthwaite – lived to see the Feasta office leave Dublin and move to Cloughjordan, Co. Tipperary which is the site of another eco-development. This positive decision built on existing links with other Cloughjordan-based organisations (e.g. the Eco-Village and Cultivate). Feasta now shares an office in the main street with Mendes Go Car, a sustainable transport consultancy.
Construction continues
Morag, Feasta’s main ‘office person’, had already relocated to Cloughjordan and other members were already living there, so, all in all, it seemed the best place for Feasta to locate outside Dublin, reducing expenditure in line with reduced funding.
Cloughjordan has a vibrant and active community where strong relationships are developing and resources and experiences are being shared.
A websearch revealed that in 2005 North Tipperary county council decided to grant planning permission for Ireland’s leading eco-village development company’s innovative plans in Cloughjordan. A week earlier a community project group which rented land in the eco-village bought a nearby 67-acre farm.
There is a copyright picture on Flickr showing the farm share point and the website says that, this year, their community supported agriculture farm produced a wide range of vegetables -potatoes, carrots, onions, cabbage, broccoli, beetroot, kale, chard, turnips, parsnips, tomatoes, courgettes, broad beans and much more. Four polytunnels have been erected to extend the growing season. Kerry cows supply milk and small clutch of hens provides eggs. A variety of grain was grown -oats,barley and wheat as well as more unusual types such as rye and spelt -some of this will be animal feed and some for the members. The farm is not only organic (no artificial fertilisers or pesticides) but is also Bio-dynamic -a method which aims to improve the health and fertility of the land.
County councillors had earlier re-zoned the land adjoining the town of Cloughjordan, where the eco-housing project is sited, for sustainable community development. The 2005 notification was for full planning permission for the eco-development’s infrastructure, and outline planning permission for individual members’ homes, as applied for by Sustainable Projects Ireland Ltd.
“This decision is of national importance for two reasons. Firstly it’ll change the way planners look at expanding villages and small towns from now on,” said Brian O’Brien of Solearth, eco-architects for the project. “Secondly it marks a major step forward in terms of sustainable settlement design and will finally bring us up to where exemplar countries like Denmark and the Netherlands are.”
Just under a third of the 67-acres will be used for building, a third for residents’ allotments, and the final 20 acres for woodland and wildlife. The development, which is quite unlike any other in Ireland, includes the provision of 132 fully-serviced sites suitable for a variety of housing, including apartments, terraced, semi-detached and detached.
Members who buy sites will also co-own multi-use community buildings, private allotments and over fifty acres of land zoned for horticultural and woodland use.
For further information: Mike Newham 0505-42833
Email mailto:mick@thevillage.ie
The website is well worth visiting: http://www.thevillage.ie
