Madam, - Carmel Quinn wrote (June 19th) that an area beside Booterstown March originally zoned F - "to preserve and provide for open space and recreational amenity" - had been re-zoned for luxury apartments, presumably without consultation with the community.
We in Howth are faced with a similar proposal, at present before Fingal County Council, to re-zone the old Edros land overlooking Balscadden Bay which is currently zoned F, and to use this land for shops and apartments.
In the document "Local Authorities, More Than Service Providers" published in 2000 it was stated: "Local government is created by local people. It exists to service the needs and priorities of local communities. It is in the best position to process the wishes of local people and deliver what they need.
County Councils and other local authorities discover what their people need by consulting them, by staying in touch with them, by discovering their interests and enthusiasms".
Submissions to the planning department regarding the Howth re-zoning were almost unanimously against it.- Yours, etc.,
AUDREY DICKSON, Howth/Sutton Community Council, The Courthouse, Howth, Co Dublin.