An Taisce accuses owners of sites of fraud

An Taisce has revived the controversy over one-off housing by accusing people in the countryside of "fraud and corruption on a national basis" in their planning applications.

Its claim was rejected last night by the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Mr Ó Cuív, who said the vast majority of applications were bona-fide.

He accused An Taisce of being more interested in "invective and insult" than genuine debate and research.

One in seven farmers sold a site for housing last year, while one- off housing was responsible for the destruction of hedgerows and the pollution of water supplies, an An Taisce conference heard at the weekend.

The organisation's heritage officer, Mr Ian Lumley, said there was "massive fraud" in planning applications for such houses. In many cases, he claimed, applications were being made ostensibly on behalf of a son or daughter of the land-owner, but once planning permission was obtained or the house built, the property was sold off.

In the west, this practice was facilitating the spread of holiday homes, he said. In the counties around Dublin, sites were being passed on to commuters. These were people trying to escape the sprawl of the capital but who were actually contributing to the problem.

Mr Lumley emphasised that An Taisce was not opposed to genuine planning applications from farmers for family members engaged in agriculture.

He accused the Irish Farmers' Association of misrepresenting his organisation's stance on one-off housing.

Mr Ó Cuív said the organisation's approach would condemn many parts of rural Ireland to a rapidly declining population. Many local authorities had already taken effective action on the issue, so that only people with a connection to an area could obtain planning permission.

An IFA spokesman said there was no evidence for Mr Lumley's claim. An Taisce was polarising the debate on rural housing with anti-farmer rhetoric, he said.

The issue is expected to feature when the Cabinet holds a special meeting on its national spatial strategy next Saturday.

Mr Greg Casey, a solicitor who has worked with community groups opposing developments throughout the State, told the conference there was a type of war going on between those who wished to develop and plunder the planet and those who wished to protect it.

"We're not objectors; we're protectors of what we have," he said.

People living in "traditional" neighbourhoods in Galway were more likely to know their neighbours, to feel part of the community and to walk than residents of modern, car-dominated suburbs, according to research presented to the conference.

They were also more likely to be politically involved, to get together socially and to feel that other people were "fair" and "trustworthy", Prof Kevin Leyden of West Virginia University told the conference.

These results bore out the experience of American researchers, who have linked the decline in social capital or the extent to which people interact with their society to the rise of suburban sprawl.

"I would say to you here in Ireland: 'Don't follow the American model. Don't plan your built environment for cars. Plan for people in a way that future generations can benefit'," Prof Leyden said.