CALLS for a moratorium on urban renewal schemes have been made at a conference in Galway on designated area development, which has operated in Ireland since 1986 and is due to continue until July 1998.
The conference, organised by An Taisce to mark its 50th anniversary, was told that more than £2 billion had so far been invested in urban renewal there have been a total of 108 designated areas in towns and cities but with mixed success.
Delegates heard that the schemes had failed to fulfil social requirements. They had not increased local employment, but had "sucked wealth from rounding areas". In addition, they had exacerbated rural decline, since investors were lured by lucrative tax incentives which were not always justifiable.
The moratorium was sought on the basis of ensuring better targeting of schemes, reinforcement of planning laws and the adoption of strategic area development plans. The chairwoman of An Taisce in Galway, Prof Emer Colleran, strongly supported calls for a five year moratorium on designated development.
Galway, she said, was the "classic example". Urban renewal had brought benefits, but also obvious negative effects. "We are not getting good planning. We need framework planning for certain areas. But if it's left in the hands of local authorities, if consultation means being told what will happen, then we can forget it."
A financial consultant, Ms Sheila Hunt, who contributed to the Study on Urban Renewal Schemes, published last December, said that the schemes had been intended to promote development which would not have taken place without tax incentive "subvention". She estimated that they had cost the Exchequer £461 million.
Dublin, for example, had a huge demand for residential property. "One would question if tax incentives are needed to encourage that development", she said. "Maybe market forces should be allowed to take over." Schemes had favoured investors rather than owner occupiers. "There was no social objective initially, so it's not surprising that they were less successful in social revitalisation".
Developments favoured young, transient residents, as was indicated by the presence of just two babies in one development and only two people over 60 in another. She concluded that there had been "little or no interaction between new and established communities".
Community links were being forged in newer developments, however, such as Dublin's International Financial Services Centre. Some companies there were working with local secondary schools.
Mr John O'Connor, of the development and planning division of the Department of the Environment, said that the concept of families living in the centres of towns and cities could be a viable one if the right policies were implemented.
The conference was told that a report submitted to the EU on, Galway's heritage had found that while the city had succeeded in saving its historic buildings from demolition, it had failed to introduce and maintain a code of practice to protect architectural quality.
