Parties question change of plan

The Government and the Opposition have differed on the reasons for the National Spatial Strategy's change in focus, which was circulated for debate yesterday.

Commenting on what he said was a significant change in preference for smaller "growth clusters" over the creation of large-scale "growth gateways", the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, said the change was "dictated by 18 months of research by the spatial planning unit" of his Department.

He rejected suggestions by Fine Gael and Labour that the change was motivated by the possibility of electoral defeat in response to potential gateways that may not be selected for growth. Speaking to The Irish Times yesterday, Mr Dempsey said feedback from the regional presentations had indicated many towns expressed resistance to quickly growing to the required "critical mass of population" of 40,000. The prospect had created difficulties with care of the environment and may even have worsened imbalance between towns and cities selected and others.

To combat this difficulty, the Department put out yesterday's discussion document, which detailed 12 "functional areas" in which the towns and villages could consider how they might develop.

"We have put the idea out there and it is now up to the people themselves to come back and say `it is a great idea' or `hang on a minute', " he said. Commenting on the difficulties created by competition for growth gateway status, Mr Dempsey said if people were "going to look for state-of-the-art hospitals, universities and everything else in their own small areas, if people do that then we aren't going to get anywhere". The functional areas were asking people to think strategically in terms of clusters of small towns and what form of development would be appropriate for them, he added.

Mr Dempsey said there was "no preconceived list of towns selected for development because there is no list until the process is over" and he promised "an open mind" on the results of the consultation process.

The change in emphasis was criticised by Fine Gael's director of policy, Mr Richard Bruton, who said it appeared "electoral arithmetic rather than regional policy" had been behind the decision.

"We can have no confidence of coherent thinking being behind this. It is a bit like decentralisation - it seemed like an electoral advantage until it became clear how many people were to be disappointed. It will lead to a piecemeal, developer-led approach to development."

Labour Party spokesman Mr Eamon Gilmore welcomed the Government's "conversion to Labour party policy" saying the party had advocated development be concentrated on small clusters of existing towns earlier this year.

However, he criticised the timing. "Two years into the National Development Plan it is like building a house to roof level and then asking an architect to design it," he said.