Development plans for Counties Meath, Wicklow and Kildare could be overturned if the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, decides that they breach Strategic Planning Guidelines (SPGs). The Minister is currently studying the plans. The move, which could be made under new powers granted to the Minister on January 1 this year under the Planning and development Act 2000, would almost certainly result in the revision of draft town plans for Kilcoole, Newtownmountkennedy and possibly other villages in Co Wicklow, as well as in Dunboyne and villages in east Meath, and the revision of population targets for towns and villages in Co Kildare.
The action has cast a long shadow on the planning process throughout the State, particularly at a time when the Flood tribunal is investigating claims of corruption in the process. An Taisce also called this week for officials and councillors involved in rezoning which breaches the guidelines to be made personally liable for a surcharge which could be imposed by the Minister.
However, while "nixerism" is said to be rife in planning authorities, it must be said that it is rarely if ever that qualified planners breach State policy - officials recently suspended from Roscommon County Council in a conflict of interest investigation were not working in the council's planning department. Qualified planners rarely put forward outrageously large development plans, their decisions being informed by their training, the availability of services and issues related to sustainable development.
It is however, when the plans leave the planning department that weaknesses in the system become apparent. In relation to the Newtown, Kilcoole and Dunboyne plans which have caused the Minister concern, the elected council rejected the advice of its own planners.
In Wicklow, the councillors' proposals for major land rezoning were supported by senior management, but not the qualified planners, according to internal council documents which have been seen by The Irish Times.
The documents indicate that senior management and council members were told as early as October 1999 that plans for major rezoning around the village of Newtownmountkennedy were unsustainable and could not be justified either under the 1999 County Development Plan, the Strategic Planning Guidelines or Residential Density Guidelines. The councillors and management were also told that the plans had already been the subject of a detailed objection by the Dublin Transportation Office.
The advice was given to councillors subsequent to an evening meeting of Wicklow County Council on September 27 1999, in which the county planners' more modest proposals for growth were rejected by the members, who apparently submitted a plan of their own. According to the documents seen by The Irish Times "... under the map submitted at the evening meeting of September 27 (1999) the total area for residential is three times that proposed for zoning under the planning department proposal".
The documents continue: "This has clear ramifications in terms of compliance with the Wicklow County Development Plan 1999 Settlement Strategy S2.2.1". The documents go on to detail how such proposals would be in breach of the Strategic Planning Guidelines "generating significant levels of commuting (which) is neither environmentally sustainable nor economic and which should be restricted using demand management techniques."
Councillors were also told that an objection had been received from the Dublin Transportation Office. This objection indicated that "large scale development will result in significant amounts of locally generated car trips on the N11, especially at peak times, unnecessarily soaking up its capacity and may undermine the strategic importance of the road. Accordingly, such development is not sustainable and conflicts with the DTI Strategy and would appear to be in conflict with the Strategic Planning Guidelines."
The document points out that capacity in the sewerage system is limited and continues that the council may be leaving itself open to claims of compensation by property developers "if some are awarded access to the sewerage system and others are not".
The members of the council were told that the proposals would create severe pressure for services "which will not keep up with the speed of development". Enquiries to Wicklow County Council as to whether the meeting of September 27 was open to the public, were met with a response of "no comment" from a spokeswoman for Mr Michael Nicholson, acting county secretary. The spokeswoman indicated that the answer to all questions would be "no comment".
The controversy has led to a call from the Fine Gael spokesman on housing, Mr Billy Timmins TD, for the abolition of the practice of holding early development plan debates in camera; he hopes to make this part of Fine Gael policy. Mr Timmins, a member of Wicklow County Council, said he had "grave reservations about the Newtown plan".
Certainly if regional planning is to work, and Mr Dempsey says it is vital to the interests of the national Spatial Development Strategy, local councillors cannot be allowed to act as independent republics.
