Sir, - Cllr Derek Mitchell (December 23rd) claims he "strongly objected" to concerning the Kilcoole and Newtown draft development plans. In support of this claim, he refers to a July meeting of Wicklow County Council at which I seconded an objection which he made. The minutes of the July meeting show that his objection to the Kilcoole plan, and to the doubling of the population which it entailed, rested solely on the plan's failure to provide for an improved railway line. Furthermore, Cllr Mitchell presented this draft plan in its entirety to the people of Kilcoole at a subsequent public meeting held by Fine Gael without making local people aware of any strong objections which he held.
I share Cllr Mitchell's concern about the capacity of the existing railway line to cater for a greatly expanded population in Kilcoole. I certainly seconded his statement to this effect at the July meeting. I could not possibly agree with him, however, that the draft plan would be acceptable in its current form should improvements to the railway line be made.
This draft plan is flawed in many respects. These include not merely the dramatic population increase envisaged over a five-year period but also the introduction of excessive levels of industrial zoning in the absence of any strategic industrial development plan for the county, and the failure to upgrade of the existing road network before significant levels of residential development occur.
I repeatedly voiced these and other objections to the proposed draft plans at a number of committee meetings before the full council meeting in July. The draft plans are now in the public domain, but they should certainly not be seen as definitive. This crucial stage in the planning process allows for the views of local communities on fundamental aspects of the plan to be communicated to their elected representatives. We must now wait and see whether the elected members of Wicklow County Council will respond to the overwhelming level of clearly articulated public concern by revisiting those plans, and revising them as necessary. - Yours, etc., Deirdre De Burca, Green Party Councillor,Wicklow County Council,
Greystones, Co Wicklow.