Sir, - Colm McCarthy (The Irish Times, December 4th) is totally wrong in stating that "the council resists residential development with passion" in Greystones. The Draft Development Plan, currently being finalised, provides for a 35 per cent to 40 per cent increase in population over the fiveyear life of the plan.
While welcome, the long overdue extension of DART is not the only infrastructure needed. Greystones, now the 19th largest town in Ireland, has only one second-level school and 50 per cent of students must travel a considerable distance outside the town for second-level education. No roads have been built for over 20 years and the only two approach roads, which used to be country lanes, are inadequate, leading to pedestrian and motorist deaths.
The Department of the Environment has requested that extra land be rezoned to cater for 2,000 more people, which would lead to a 55 per cent increase in five years without any guarantee that these deficiencies would be fixed. Even apart from the infrastructure issues, such a fast growth rate would lead to a destruction of community spirit.
The 35 per cent growth envisaged in the draft plan is a compromise between the many residents who want no expansion and the national issue of where to accommodate extra people. No further land should be rezoned in Greystones. In my view the many derelict sites in Dublin should be developed at high density as the infrastructure already exists in those areas. - Yours, etc.,
Derek Mitchell, Chairman, Greystones Town Commissioners, Greystones,
Co Wicklow.