AN OUTSPOKEN County Councillor has thrown down the gauntlet to the Environment Minister, challenging him to make himself the sole arbiter on planning decisions in Ireland.
Cllr Paddy McGuinness said Minister John Gormley should stop "conning" people into believing members have any say in local planning policy. The Fine Gael whip was reacting to news that the Environment Minister is to tighten up on planning rules, making it even more difficult to secure permission for one-off houses.
Cllr McGuinness, who has been instrumental in drawing up a radical new development plan for Mayo, said the current system was something of a "sham", if the minister could reduce the role of elected representatives in the process.
If emerged at the end of last month that Minster Gormley intends to issue new guidelines on the development of towns, villages and unserviced rural lands. Under the provisions, which are expected to be put out for consultation at the end of January, towns with fewer than 400 people will only get permission for ten to 12 extra houses, over the life of a local development plan. It's also expected that local authorities will be forbidden from increasing the number of houses in towns of up to 5,000 by more than 15 per cent in the life of a seven-year plan.
Reacting to Minister Gormley's plan, Cllr McGuinness said there was "absolutely no point in leading people to believe councillors have influence on planning policy when the Department has the final say".
"If the minister has the courage to hold such strong views on planning, let him go the whole hog and make himself the planning authority. There is no point in leading people to believe that the councillors they elect have any say if the minister can wade in at the last minute and dictate to them," the Fine Gael member said.
"I would also question where the minister intends people to live, if he is going to put restrictions on towns, villages and rural areas. Is he saying that Dublin is the only place people can live, and the only place that services will be put into?"
When asked if he had concerns about the success of the new draft development plan in light of the forthcoming guidelines, Cllr McGuinness acknowledged that much of what was jointly proposed by Fine Gael and Fianna Fail is at odds with national policy
"What we did in the draft plan is to provide an alternative to the existing ideology of centralisation, which is not working in Mayo. The alternative may fail, but at least it is an alternative.
"I welcome the minister's input on the Mayo plan as an objective third party. There is a lot there on the development of pedestrian facilities and park and ride in towns that I think he will approve of. We made it clear that all parties acted in good faith in drafting the plan, and that they had regard to' the principles of proper planning and sustainable development."
Proposals made by council members to the Draft Mayo County Development Plan are to go on display to the public in the coming days, and further submissions will be accepted before the document is finalised.
Fiona Mcgarry
Western People
www.buckplanning.ie
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