Growth in all the wrong places?

Frank McDonald's views on planning and commuting:

Growth in all the wrong places

The county's population is likely to continue increasing, contrary to planning guidelines, writes Frank McDonald, Environment Editor

Kildare County Council has been ticked off more than once by ministers for not pursuing an overall strategy and failing to abide by the Strategic Planning Guidelines (SPGs) for the Greater Dublin Area. Yet nothing has been done to ensure that growth is channelled into the right areas.

Co Kildare is growing faster than any other county in the Republic with the single exception of Meath. The 2002 census showed it was just five people short of the Strategic Planning Guideline target of 164,000 for 2006, having recorded a 21.5 per cent increase in population since 1996 - mainly in areas close to Dublin.

The population of Naas rose by 30 per cent to 18,312. Newbridge grew slightly faster (by 32 per cent) to 8,686, while Kildare town went up by 29 per cent to 6,893 and Kilcock by more than 45 per cent to 3,251. Athy, more remote from Dublin, rose by just 18 per cent to 5,270.

These were all areas designated for growth under the SPGs, first published in 1999. But what was remarkable about the 2002 Census was its confirmation that villages that were never intended for development, other than to meet local needs, had become hot spots in the Dublin commuter belt.

Clane's population went up by nearly 30 per cent to 5,192 and Kill's by 37.5 per cent while Bodenstown grew by a staggering 120 per cent to 3,206. Growth rates in Leixlip and Maynooth, both in the Dublin metropolitan area, were much more modest.

Other designated growth centres that recorded population increases substantially less than the county average include Kilcullen (up 5.8 per cent to 1,780) and Monasterevin (up 12 per cent to 3,158). Celbridge, where the SPGs sought more controlled development, saw its figure rise by 28 per cent to 14,251.

The county council must shoulder the blame. Even as it was denying that there was any conflict between its own plan and the SPGs, the council was not only targeting Maynooth and Kilcock, which were both designated for development under the guidelines, but also Clane, Castledermot and Kill, which were not. Like other villages in Co Kildare, these are located in the "strategic greenbelt" of Dublin's hinterland, according to the SPGs. The draft local area plan for Kill, published in March 2001, even noted this greenbelt designation and the restriction of growth to local needs only before going on to propose doubling its population.

In the case of Castledermot, the local area plan also quoted from the SPGs' prohibition on development other than that required by local needs. But it, too, went on to suggest a 200 per cent increase in population by 2006. More than 500 new homes would be needed to accommodate this dramatic increase.

Conceding that most of the demand arises from Dublin's overspill, the council's housing strategy estimates the number of households in the county would grow by more than 26 per cent to 65,159 by 2006, and says that improved roads, sewerage, electricity and telecom services would be needed to cater for this.

As elsewhere, developers tend to get what they want in Co Kildare. On area committees, Fianna F�il and Fine Gael councillors unanimously support land rezoning wherever it is proposed and their decisions are then rubber-stamped by the full council. It's a free-for-all, of course, but with chaotic consequences.

However, not everyone in Co Kildare is as gung-ho about development as the councillors.

There was fierce resistance in Clane to what local people saw as aunseemly rush by councillors to rezone large tracts of land for housing on the outskirts of a village that lacked the facilities even to cater for its existing population. A massive campaign was waged against these rezonings in 1996, prompting the then minister for the environment, Labour's Brendan Howlin, to intervene. He refused to approve an early draft of the county development plan on the basis that it was being put together in a piecemeal fashion, with no overall strategy. After his successor, Noel Dempsey, sent back a revised draft in 1997, the county council engaged planning consultants Jonathan Blackwell Associates to draw up a new strategy. This provided the foundations for the revised county plan, which was finally adopted in May 1999. Though the local area plans for Clane and Kill were quashed by the High Court, on the grounds that they were being adopted out of time, the county council later proceeded to designate Clane as a "primary growth centre" in defiance of the SPGs and set a population target of 6,300 for the village, to be achieved by 2006. But Cllr Tony McEvoy (Ind), who unsuccessfully challenged the Meath county plan in the High Court, winning a moral victory in the process, maintains that if all of the zoned land in the area is developed - some 140 acres in total - Clane's population could soar to 10,000, or almost double the figure recorded last year.

Since the present county plan was adopted, a number of other towns and villages have been the subject of local area plans, all characterised by the over-zoning of land. These include Rathangan and even little-known Derrinturn, barely more than a crossroads, which could end up with a population exceeding 3,000. When individual targets for all the towns and villages with local area plans are added to a growing rural population, the county plan would cater for a total of 197,000 in Co Kildare by 2006 - 22 per cent more than the target set by the SPGs. Thus, there is no way the county council can claim to be in compliance.

The county plan assumed that the rural population of Kildare would remain constant, at around 36,000. Yet in 2001 alone, 900 "one-off" houses were built in the countryside, reflecting the view taken by county manager Niall Bradley, often in opposition to the council's planners. Over the past two years, An Taisce has lodged at least 60 appeals against schemes in Co Kildare, many of them cases where refusals were recommended by the planners. Of the 40 cases determined so far by An Bord Plean�la, the county council lost every single one. In one case, where a Dublin-based solicitor built a large two-storey house without planning permission in Ballycaghan, near Kilcock, and the Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy, made representations on his behalf, the council has so far failed to seek a High Court injunction against this unauthorised development.

It was McCreevy, a local Fianna F�il TD, who allocated �2.5 million (€3.2 million) for the re-opening of Monasterevin train station in 2001. This was based on projections by the town's railway action committee that 95 per cent of the town's 270 Dublin-bound commuters would use it - a figure disputed by Iarnr�d �ireann. There has been a pathetically low return on this public investment. Though the town is now served by five mainline trains travelling to and from Dublin, average daily boardings amount to just 60. The only hope is that this will grow with Monasterevin.

Spatial plan a load of nonsense

David McWilliams tells us planners what he thinks of the National Spatial Strategy:

Apparently, we have a National Spatial Strategy.

It was published some time last year, or maybe it was the year before. It was full of hubs, corridors and gateways. It said something about more balanced development, more decentralising of jobs and generally less congestion, commuting and snarl.

Like a national school project, a lovely map of the country was unveiled with lots of straight blue and red lines. It alluded to fancy-sounding things like radial corridors and seemed very progressive at the time. Economic activity, research and employment were to be spread more or less evenly around the country. Most crucially, this would take pressure off house prices in the Dublin area.

No expense was spared on the PR exercise to unveil it and the later plan for decentralisation of civil servants.

Unfortunately, just like the Luas, the National Spatial Strategy and plan for decentralisation did not join up.

Towns which were supposed to become hubs and gateways and, as such, were earmarked for jobs and development, didn’t get earmarked for civil servants. Other towns seemed to be getting government departments based on the precariousness of the local government politician’s electoral majority.

But who cared? Did anyone notice? For awhile, little else was talked about. The only problem was that it was all nonsense.

There has been little effort to plan the country and, even when there is planning, it is rarely implemented. Planning a growing economy is like clothing a growing teenager - you buy him expensive trainers and combats and, within six months, he has outgrown both.

Similarly, with a growing economy, roads that are adequate today are jammed within eight months. The capacity of some trains was increased last year, but they resemble the Calcutta Express already.

Towns that were villages in 2001 are now concrete jungles. So, even if there was an effective planning strategy, it needs to be modified, expanded and updated constantly.

But don’t worry about these hypothetical details, because the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing - our government says one thing and does precisely the opposite.

For example, last Thursday, the IDA- a central agent of government policy - unveiled plans to seek pre-planning permission for new high-tech businesses. The idea is that a tailor-made technology campus be put in place before investment decisions of large multinationals are made.

Having such ready-made sites available would obviously encourage investors to set up here. The IDA forecasts that 2,000 jobs will come to the campus in the next few years, which is great news. The only problem is that it is in west Dublin. Just in case you hadn’t noticed, west Dublin is the most congested, badly-planned place in the country.

Now, let’s go back to the great National Spatial Strategy. According to this plan, this type of development was to be relocated away from Dublin, allowing the city to breathe and, in turn, to re-energise parts of the west and south of the country.

But no - that’s only in dreamland. Back here in Ireland, PR takes precedence over planning.

So this little development will add to the swelling of Dublin. But just how dominant is Dublin?

To get an idea of its bloated pre-eminence, let’s take a trip to our maternity wards. There were more babies delivered in Dublin in 2004 than in the entire province of Munster - an area 20 times bigger.

There were three times more babies delivered in Dublin than in the entire province of Connacht.

But these babies are not born to city dwellers; they are largely the progeny of the commuter class - the ‘Kells Angels’.

The census reveals a crescent stretching from Drogheda to Arklow, where people are commuting more than one and a half hours a day. This large ‘baby belt’ is home to the most fertile counties in the land and is creating a dependency on Dublin that will be very hard to rebalance.

At the moment, Dublin’s truly overwhelming dominance means that commuting begins in the womb. The commuting foetus is uniquely Irish. In the same way as maternity books advise mothers to play classical music to their unborn children, the fact that expectant mothers from towns like Kells, Navan, Wicklow and Edenderry have to commute in the traffic to Dublin for scans and proper antenatal care, can be seen as perfect pre-birth training for life on the outside.

The newborn child will be able to tell his Mozart from his Bach, his hard shoulder from his roadworks, his unleaded from his diesel, his M50 from his N11, and his Abbeyleix jam from his Monasterevin bypass. A perfect traffic symphony for the traffic people - a sort of fanfare for the common commuter.

But who benefits from this haphazard development? The developers, for starters.

It has been said that Fianna Fail is the political wing of the construction industry, and a quick glance at the residents in the Fianna Fail tent at the Galway Races every year would suggest that this is not too far from the truth.

Is this closeness to the construction/land/property industry healthy? Obviously not, particularly as the housing market is overheated already. Think about the following statistic: we are building more houses per head than post-war Germany did when trying to rebuild itself from scratch.

Why are so many houses going up now?

Because they have to build as quickly as possible. Many developers who have bought sites at astronomical prices need to get the houses up immediately, just in case anything happens to the market. Nobody wants to be sitting on a huge land bank on the day it dawns on the Irish that we do not need all these extra houses.

A conspiracy theorist would suggest that the reason for the National Spatial Strategy in the first place was to copper-bottom the investments of well-placed developers who saw their land zoned into perpetuity. The reason it has not yet been implemented is because the same developers’ other land banks have not been fully developed yet.

When they are, the government will introduce the plan in earnest. But who believes conspiracy theorists? Surely not you, not here, not now?

One of the less obvious problems with developer-led rather than planner-led policy is that it is anti-economic in nature.

Much of economics is about scale: if a town or a region has scale or mass, it can become self-sufficient. It will be able to sustain itself.

Typically, on the continent, regions are aggregated together to create a sustainable community of larger and smaller towns. They market and advertise themselves as one. For example, in Belgium, the towns of Bruges, Ghent and Ostend marketed themselves as the region of west Flanders, with predictably positive economic results that broke the commuter link with Brussels.

If this were done in the midlands of Ireland, it could prevent the great sucking sound of the area being drawn into Dublin with the attendant commuting and overcrowding issues.

The problem for the midlands now is that it might already be too late. None of the five main towns has a population of more than 20,000 and, as this column has pointed out before, close to half the populations of Athlone, Tullamore and Mullingar now commute to work.

Without scale, these towns will be unable to resist the gravitational pull of Dublin and decisions such as the IDA’s one last Thursday will make that more difficult.

Moving 10,000 civil servants won’t do much either. Think about it: more than 120,000 people will move jobs this year.

This puts the hullabaloo about moving a few thousand civil servants into context.

But what about Cork, Galway and Limerick? Well, it appears that the spatial strategy does not see these as being in any way linked. It has been suggested that a motorway arc linking these three substantial cities would be smart and, given the fact that they are the only three urban centres of any significance outside Dublin, this would seem the only way to redress the eastern pull of development.

But, of course, that might make too much sense and risk being seen as too revolutionary; and it might not suit the vested interests.

So we will just plod along, commuting in the sprawl where the new suburbs and older towns are unable to break the umbilical ties to Dublin - Ireland’s 21st century placenta.

David McWilliams’s book The Pope’s Children, published by Gill & Macmillan, is in shops now.

Visit www.davidmcwilliams.ie

Dublin's relentless sprawl leaves planning in tatters

Useful article on sprawl by Frank McDonald:

Even Cavan is now in the capital's commuter belt, writes Frank McDonald , Environment Editor.

Every set of figures tells a story, and the preliminary report on last April's census is no exception. Indeed, its population statistics starkly illuminate the Government's laissez-faire approach to regional planning and its abject failure to ensure that growth happens in an orderly way in the right places.

This is dramatically true in the case of Dublin. Under the 1999 Strategic Planning Guidelines for the Greater Dublin Area (GDA), a policy of consolidating the metropolitan area was laid down, with only limited growth envisaged for the major towns of its hinterland. But even by census 2002 this was already in tatters.

Census 2006 has confirmed the sprawl of Dublin into Leinster, and even into parts of Ulster. As the Central Statistics Office (CSO) noted in its own commentary, Cavan had the highest growth rate of the State's three Ulster counties, with "the main stimulus coming from the south of the county, which is within commuting distance of Dublin".

Virginia is now a Dublin suburb. Its population rose by 34.5 per cent to 3,188 over the past four years. The outskirts of Gorey, Co Wexford - 100km from the capital - recorded an even more dramatic population increase of 53.2 per cent, while Enniscorthy's fell by 14.1 per cent; it has not been drawn into the Dublin commuter belt - yet.

Leinster's share of the State's overall population has continued to increase, largely fuelled by the sprawl of Dublin; it now accounts for just over 54 per cent of the total. All of the counties in Leinster increased their populations between 2002 and 2006, in most cases by more than the national average rate of 8.1 per cent.

Over the past 10 years, as the CSO noted, three Leinster counties - Fingal, Meath and Kildare - accounted for nearly 30 per cent of the 609,000 growth in the State's population. Fingal grew by an astonishing 22.1 per cent over the past four years, with the largest increase (32.3 per cent) being in the Blakestown area of Blanchardstown.

Between them, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow registered an increase of 15.1 per cent in the same period. The Midland Region, with an 11.5 per cent rise, also comfortably exceeded the national average rate of increase. As the CSO noted, its counties - Laois, Longford, Offaly and Westmeath - also form part of the wider Dublin commuter belt.

By contrast, Dublin's own population grew by just 5.6 per cent, with the large increase in Fingal being offset by smaller increases in Dublin city (2 per cent), Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown (1 per cent) and South Dublin (3.4 per cent). The main reasons were attributed by the CSO to "the relatively low level of new housing and an ageing population".

As Hubert Fitzpatrick, director of the Irish Home Builders' Association, said: "What is happening is that the failure to provide sufficient zoned and serviced lands in Dublin . . . is creating a doughnut effect, whereby increasing numbers of Dublin-based workers are being forced to move further and further from the city".

And as outer suburban areas experienced spectacular growth - 54.6 per cent in Ratoath, Co Meath, for example - established suburbs saw their populations decline. The Ludford area of Ballinteer and Williamstown in Blackrock - both in south Co Dublin - each fell by 10.2 per cent, while the centre of Dún Laoghaire dropped by 13.1 per cent.

Declines ranging from 8.1 to 9.2 per cent were registered for other Dublin suburbs experiencing the effects of the "empty nest" syndrome, such as Beaumont, Cabra, Harmonstown and Rathmines. This was true even in parts of Tallaght, where the population fell by 11.5 per cent in Killinarden and by 16.6 per cent in Glenview, while Jobstown went up by 27.9 per cent.

The flight of younger people to outer suburban areas was mirrored in Cork, Limerick and Waterford. The populations of Cork city and Limerick city fell by 3.2 per cent and 2.7 per cent respectively, even though Co Cork (up 11.4 per cent) was the fastest growing county in Munster, followed by Co Waterford (up 9.2 per cent) and Co Limerick (up 8.3 per cent).

Co Galway experienced an 11 per cent increase, while the rapid growth in the population of Galway city experienced since the 1991 census moderated to 9.3 per cent between 2002 and 2006. One of the reasons given was that many infill developments in city areas consisted of apartments catering for only one or two persons.

One encouraging trend is the re-population of Dublin's inner city. The biggest increase (56 per cent) was recorded in Arran Quay C, largely as a result of the redevelopment of Smithfield. Other major growth areas include Kilmainham (up 45.2 per cent) and Merchants Quay E (up 42 per cent).

Residential developments in Docklands are also reflected in the census results, with North Dock C up by 15.6 per cent and South Dock by 36.1 per cent, while frenetic building activity on the city's northern fringe has boosted Grange by 34.3 per cent and Kilmore A by 20 per cent.

But Hubert Fitzpatrick is right in saying that the planning system "seriously miscalculated population trends", especially in the GDA. Regional planning guidelines based their zoning recommendations on a projected population of 1.8 million by 2020. However, with this already at 1.67 million, the real figure in 2020 is more likely to be 2.2 million.

"This has huge implications for the amount of land zoned for all types of development and for the resources put aside to service these lands," he said.

More generally, the rising population will place added pressures on an already burdened public infrastructure - even as many existing facilities are under-utilised as a result of the crazy pattern of Ireland's growth.

The Atlantic Gateways Report

Has anyone else seen the Atlantic Gateways Report? This appears to have received no attention at all, yet it has been around since September 2006.

According to this 79 paged, heavily designed report, the Atlantic Gateways initiative aims to establish greater levels of connectivity and synergies between Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford across areas such as economic development, physical infrastructure as well as
social and cultural development. The basic premise of the concept is that by co-operation in relevant areas, the development potential of all of the four gateways will be enhanced. This enhanced development potential would help to create a higher level of critical mass and a more self-sustaining growth impetus complementing the Greater Dublin Area and the Dublin/Belfast Corridor. In so doing the Atlantic Gateways will promote more balanced regional development.

It is meant to build on the National Spatial Strategy.

Here's the link:

http://www.irishspatialstrategy.ie/pdfs/Atlantic%20Gateways%20Report%20-%20final%20pdf%20-%20sep06.pdf

Anyone want to write a review?

Brendan Buck

Energy: School principal criticised for protesting against Shell

MAURA Harrington, the school principal at the heart of the Shell to Sea protests, has been heavily criticised by some parents of her pupils, who feel her high profile in the campaign is not in the best interests of the school. Harrington is the principal of the 61-pupil Inver national school, which was the recipient of a recent Department of Education report, calling for substantive change in how the school is run.

The report said a new management structure is required and that meetings are lacking defined agendas, forward planning and proper record keeping.

Parents of children attending the school now feel Harrington's continuing involvement in the protests which have turned violent on several occasions and in which she herself was badly hurt, are affecting standards at the school.

Several parents contacted this weekend indicate they are putting together a letter detailing their complaints and hope to present it to the school and its board of management in the coming days.

"Over the past number of weeks, we have seen her in papers and on the television in situations that people in positions of authority should not be behaving. She has a right to protest, but we feel that at present, the school is suffering as a result of her involvement," said one parent of an eight-year-old child at the mixed school.

Harrington was forced to take extended leave after sustaining head and neck injuries during a violent protest on October 12. She was injured as Gardai tried to clear demonstrators blocking an access road used by Shell workers.

Last Sunday, she was given a rousing endorsement at the Republican Sinn Fein Ard Fheis during the presidential address of Ruairi O Bradaigh. Harrington, in fact, addressed the hard-line republican conference in 2005.

Harrington has repeatedly refused to discuss her role as principal in public but has insisted that she never allows politics to enter the classroom. Despite repeated attempts to contact her this weekend, Harrington was not available for comment.

Harrington's actions have not gone down well with the more moderate elements of the Shell to Sea campaign.

Dr Mark Garavan, sociologist at nearby Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, and spokesman for Shell to Sea said: "While not speaking about any one individual, the violent actions or the days of action have only served to muddy the waters and deflect attention from the main argument. There is no place for such violence from anyone and we want to move forward in a peaceful way."

Dr Garavan explained that the Shell to Sea includes a wide scope of people with differing beliefs, and is bigger than anyone individual.

"We have scheduled a solidarity day for next Friday and we want to make it clear that we don't want a repeat of the shocking and ugly scenes that took place previously. Relations with the Gardai are quite poor already down here."

Planning: Development plan for Cork green belt

A new roundabout and proposed developments in the green belt alongside the Cork-Bandon road will not undermine the area's special zoning, the manager of Cork County Council, Maurice Moloney, has told The Irish Times.

The new roundabout at Garranedarragh, Bishopstown, is to be paid for by Castlelands Construction, a Cork-based development company owned by John Barry.

The company will gain access to nine hectares (22 acres) of land zoned for housing which it owns and which adjoins the green belt.

Permission granted in 2005 by the council for this roundabout, following an application from the housing land's then owners, Rosbridge Properties, was overturned by An Bord Pleanála in December 2005.

Senior planner at the council Nicholas Mansergh had objected to permission for the roundabout, as he felt its main function would be to open up green belt land for development.

Christopher Gethin, an inspector from An Bord Pleanála, having reviewed the issue, reported that the principal issue was "the harm which would arise from the proposed development in terms of its effect on the green belt".

A new private hospital, an Enable Ireland facility and a park- and-ride facility, which are to be built in the green belt, are to be serviced by the new roundabout. However the inspector was of the view that the private hospital and park-and-ride developments should be located elsewhere.

Mr Gethin quoted Mr Mansergh's view that "building roads and sewers deep into previously inaccessible lands close to the edge of the city would be the most effective way of subverting" the green belt.

"It is my opinion that the appearance and the function of the green belt in this area is of outstanding importance, and the need to resist the enabling role of the roundabout in facilitating these damaging developments, is correspondingly important," Mr Gethin reported. An Bord Pleanála agreed and refused permission.

Mr Moloney told The Irish Times that Castlelands Construction contacted the council in early 2006. He and the county engineer met executives of Castlelands. The executives explained that Castlelands now controlled all the land that would be affected by the roundabout.

"They said 'we control the land and can we, in partnership with the council, look at it as a public and private project, a mix?'."

The council then proceeded by way of a part 8 procedure. This mechanism can be used when a proposed development "is by a local authority or on behalf of a local authority", Mr Moloney said. An aspect of the procedure is that once the permission is granted by the elected members of the authority, it cannot be appealed to An Bord Pleanála.

Castlelands's proposal to the council involved it paying for the roundabout and donating for the park-and-ride facility. The offer made it possible for the council to use the part 8 procedure because control of the land to be affected is needed if the procedure is to be used. The new roundabout will be built on public and privately held land.

Mr Moloney said the proposed project was publicised and then voted on and approved by the elected members in July. "The reality here is that a number of public and private concerns were going to merge and benefit."

He said it was not the case that nothing could be developed on green belt land. The Cork development plan allows for hotels and care institutions to be built on green belt land, as long as the character of the green belt was maintained, he said.

Mr Moloney said the "corporate view" within the council on the roundabout proposal was different to that of Mr Mansergh.

"The layout and development of these projects will mitigate against further development of the green belt."

He said the council has successfully resisted development of green belt land.

The hospital proposal comes from SMCMC Ltd, a company associated with James and Philip Sheehan, who are also involved in private hospital projects in Dublin and Galway.

Regular objector has own house plan turned down

A KERRY man who has admitted he objects “all the time” to one-off houses and developments in scenic and conservation areas in the county has himself been turned down for a single rural house in an amenity area.

Michael J Horgan, Upper Cloonbeg, Tralee, had appealed to An Bord Pleanala against Kerry County Council’s decision to refuse him permission for a bungalow and septic tank at his site at Gortdromakiery, Muckross, Killarney.

The area, designated a secondary special amenity rural landscape in the county development plan, is near a river and is just outside the Special Area of Conservation of Lough Guitane, the primary water source for Kerry.

Mr Horgan, who is retired, said he wants the house in Killarney because he now spends four days a week there, walks in the national park and has a boat at Ross Castle. He had been granted planning permission previously for a two-storey house on the site which he has owned since the late 1990s. The council said the house would interfere with an essentially unspoilt area.

The planning application to the county council last March - with the newspaper notice appearing in Irish - was met with an avalanche of letters objecting to Mr Horgan’s proposal. Some of the dozen or so people objecting to the application raised concerns about traffic, pollution, zoning, proximity to a river and a lake, ribbon development and archaeology.

It was pointed out that Mr Horgan regularly objected to such housing for others. One letter said he had “a long established history of objections to one-off housing applications in rural areas.”

Mr Horgan claimed in his appeal that many of those objecting were persons or friends of persons whose developments he objected to previously, both personally and as chairman of Rivers and Lakes of Killarney Conservation Association.

He also said he had been involved in many planning applications and appeals - most of his appeals were upheld by An Bord Pleanala - but he objected to being branded a serial objector by county councillors who last year wanted to establish a register of such objectors.

Mr Horgan said on Monday that he had “never stopped” objecting to developments and would continue to do so, because of his interest in preserving the environment and scenery of Kerry.

On at least one occasion he hired a private investigator to gather information on an unsuitable development, and has highlighted pollution near the famous Torc Waterfall, as well as the treatment of effluent at the Victorian Dinis Cottage in Killarney National Park.

He has also been instrumental in ensuring information kiosk would now have to apply for planning permission as a retail outlet, as it had changed its emphasis.

Mr Horgan, who has a keen interest in angling as well as the outdoors and planning matters, said he would be studying An Bord Pleanala’s decision carefully.

His proposed house was to be located in an area which already had a number of houses.

“I had planning permission there already, but I let it run out,” he said.

An Bord Pleanala’s planning inspector, Mairead Kenny, said she did not consider that the pursuit of recreational activities by a retired person on a four-day a week basis constitutes a rural generated demand for a dwelling house.

“The development which is sited within an area which is subject of considerable development pressure, is contrary to the sustainable rural housing guidelines and would be unacceptable from the point of view of proposals for wastewater treatment and result in a traffic hazard,” Ms Kenny said, advising refusal.

The board upheld its inspector’s recommendation saying it considered that the proposed development would endanger public safety by reason of traffic hazard and it would constitute “excessive density of development by virtue of its impact on the landscape and would give rise to an extension of linear development into a substantially unspoiled open area which would interfere with the character of the landscape, designated as Secondary Special Amenity in the current development plan for the area”

The proposed development would, therefore, be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area, the board ruled.

Locals angry over prison speculation

ANGER and surprise were expressed by local representatives and community leaders yesterday as they learnt that an army camp in North Cork could become the site of a €70 million prison.

The Department of Justice has admitted that it’s looking at the 1,200-acre Kilworth Camp, near Fermoy, for a new 500-cell prison having faced stiff opposition to locate it on Spike Island, Cobh.

“I was stunned to hear this could happen without there being any consultation. I don’t think it’s appropriate for the area and I’m opposed to it,” Cllr Aileen Pyne said.

Cllr Frank O’Flynn said he was very surprised and annoyed that as a member of the Fianna Fáil National Executive he’d hadn’t been informed of the move.

Cllr Liam O’Doherty said he was “very angry” at the way the information came out, especially as the Kilworth and Araglin communities were currently locked in a battle with Valeco, which want to build a €75 million anaerobic waste digester just a stone’s throw from proposed prison.

Deputy Paul Bradford said he’d had a brief discussion with Minister for Justice Michael McDowell who’s admitted that his officials were examining the Kilworth site.

“It is being investigated, no more no less. The question of Spike Island hasn’t been taken off the agenda yet,” Deputy Bradford said.

However, the news has been warmly welcomed by Cobh Tourism chairman, Michael Martin,

“Spike Island contains 10 times more history than Alcatraz and Port Arthur put together. This island needs to be preserved and presented for future generations of Irish and other visitors,” Mr Martin said.

Roche asked about appointment

A Green Party call for Minister for the Environment Dick Roche to explain the appointment to An Bord Pleanála of a person connected with a proposal to build an incinerator in Poolbeg, Dublin, was ruled out of order in the Dáil yesterday.

The party's finance spokesman, Dan Boyle, said the Minister had appointed to the board of Bord Pleanála a member of the RPS company "intimately involved in the proposal to construct an incinerator for Poolbeg in Dublin".

Mr Boyle also said it was "part of a trend of similarly compromising appointments by the Government, such as the previous appointment as a director of the Environmental Protection Agency of a former member of Indaver, the company seeking to construct two incinerators at Ringaskiddy, Co Cork".

The Cork South Central deputy said Mr Roche should make a statement to the House on the "circumstances whereby he has appointed to the board of An Bord Pleanála a member of the RPS company, intimately involved in the proposal to build an incinerator at Poolbeg, Dublin".

However, the ceann comhairle, Dr Rory O'Hanlon, ruled the issue out of order under standing order 31.

Laois residents and council reach agreement of sorts on landfill

Laois residents and council reach agreement of sorts on landfill

RESIDENTS from the Derryguile and Kyletalesha area and Laois Co. Council have reached agreement in part on a way forward in addressing the odours coming from the landfill site at Kyletelisha.

Following a sometimes heated and emotional meeting early last week in the Macra Hall in Mountmellick where locals vented their anger at the ongoing odour emissions and health concerns from the landfill a further meeting took place between senior council personal and the Kyletalesha Monitoring committee in County Hall last Friday.

At that meeting a progress report was given by the council’s senior engineer John O’Donoghue on the capital works at Kyletalesha. He said the construction of the new landfill cell 14 was 90% complete and the new gas collection system, including state-of-the-art flaring, is operational since November 6. He said the council is employing a landfill gas specialist to carry out a report on the landfill and joint odour controls with gas monitors would be carried out with local residents.

County manager Peter Carey accepted a nuisance had been caused by the odours and said improvements had been made. He confirmed the council’s commitment to carry out works to minimise the nuisance.

Director of services John Daly said the Health Services Executive (HSE) would be commissioned to carry out an independent report into health issues the residents may have.

In reply the Derryguile and Kyletalesha Residents Association welcomed some of the council’s initiatives.

They welcomed the appointment of two independent specialists to deal with the health aspect and gas and odours systems. The arrival of the equipment to monitor the gas emissions and the closure of the landfill to commercial waste were also welcomed.

Mr Daly confirmed the council has ceased taking in waste from commercial operators and emphaised this had nothing to do with the gas or odours but the landfill was reaching its annul licenced capacity.

The residents say: “We believe the cell currently under construction (cell 14) must not be opened until the current odour and gas problems are resolved.

“We have no faith in the flare system currently in place as the odour problems are still there and at the same severity.”

The residents’ spokesperson, Anne Dickinson, said the association is still concerned the council still have plans to take in waste from outside the county.

Shell seeks licence to carry out survey for pipeline

Shell E&P Ireland has applied for foreshore licensing to carry out marine surveys as part of its work on a modified route for its onshore pipeline.

The full marine surveys will be conducted in Sruwaddaccon and Rossport bays, following foreshore licence approval, the company confirmed at an open evening in Belmullet, Co Mayo last night.

Sruwaddaccon Bay, within Broadhaven Bay, is a candidate special area of conservation (SAC), thus requiring consultation with the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), according to the company. Corrib gas project officials have met with the NPWS and a number of statutory bodies, as part of a seven-stage procedure aimed at securing agreement on a modified route.

Several dozen people attended last night's opening of the two-day exhibition by the Corrib gas partners in the Broadhaven Hotel, Belmullet.

Among participants was contractor, Mercury Engineering. It is offering places to 15 apprentices from the Erris area who may be given an option to work in north Mayo on graduation.

Shell E&P Ireland officials were on hand to talk to visitors, and feedback forms with stamped addressed envelopes and free copies of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group's new guidebook were among literature available.

The company is stressing that the resumption of work at the Bellanaboy terminal - in advance of a new pipeline route agreement - represents a "jobs boost", with 170 jobs linked to terminal construction and 50 permanent jobs on completion.

Local objectors are still conducting dawn protests, and up to 100 gardaí are being maintained to escort staff to work. Chris Tallott, a retired Bord na Móna employee and founder of the North-West Mayo Action Group, attended last night's open evening, and said he felt that the project had enormous benefits for the area. "Our action group doesn't want jobs at any cost, and I do feel Shell made some stupid mistakes and that last year's jailing of the Rossport five was terrible," Mr Tallott said.

"I don't like to see what's happening with the gardaí either, but I do wish for dialogue. I feel that 50 jobs in Bellanaboy is the equivalent of 500 jobs in Dublin in an area like this."

Maura Harrington, one of the objectors present, said that there was "no excuse for the paucity of hard information" at the exhibition.

She cited its reference to a "small amount of cold venting" during gas processing at the terminal - an issue which the Environmental Protection Agency has been seeking more information on.

Several Rossport residents who attended said there were still questions to be answered about the proximity of the gas terminal to Carrowmore lake, Erris's main public water supply.

Shell to Sea has called off its "day of solidarity" planned for this Friday at Bellanaboy, on health and safety grounds. It has reiterated its call for a commission of inquiry to look at the optimum development concept for the project, and this has been supported by the Labour Party, the Green Party and Sinn Féin.

Sinn Féin's marine spokesman Martin Ferris has criticised the rejection of the proposal by Minister for the Marine, Noel Dempsey. Speaking in Dublin yesterday, he accused Mr Dempsey of "playing fast and loose with the facts in his claim that the project has received full approval from the appropriate statutory bodies".

TDs regret cancellation of Corrib gas protest

Members of the Oireachtas who support the Shell to Sea campaign yesterday expressed their regret that a protest planned for Friday could not go ahead and criticised the use of batons by gardaí during a recent demonstration at the site by the protest group.

Responding to the announcement that organisers had called off a protest at the site of the Corrib gas project on "health and safety grounds", the group of TDs and Senator David Norris called for continued support for the campaign.

At a press conference in Dublin, Green Party leader Trevor Sargent said the Government "really has to ask itself how have we come to this point".

He said he had attended some of the daily protests at the site in Bellanaboy, Co Mayo, and described the actions of gardaí during the last "day of protest", on November 10th, as a "real disgrace".

Gardaí used batons to disperse protesters who had come from across the State and one person was hospitalised.

Mr Norris said the gardaí had "engaged very clearly in brutality" and it was a "disgrace that the police force of a state be used against the Irish people, in the interests of a multinational corporation". "This is a watershed in civil rights. This was and would be a peaceful protest. It's a disgrace."

Chief Supt Tony McNamara of the Mayo Garda Division said following the incidents that he was "particularly disappointed and sad" about them. Two gardaí had sustained minor injuries - one was punched in the eye and another suffered a strained finger. He said the protesters were well organised and their numbers had been boosted by about 20 "non-natives".

Martin Ferris, TD and Sinn Féin spokesman on natural resources, said his party would continue to support the Shell to Sea campaign.

He reiterated his support for the campaign's call for an independent commission of inquiry into the dispute.

"We would call on the Government to recognise the potential of the commission of inquiry proposal and for the thousands of people out there who have supported this campaign from the beginning to keep up the pressure."

A spokesman for Shell to Sea said that suggestions by the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, and the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, that the campaign had been infiltrated by outside interests was "nonsensical".

"The safe exploitation of the Corrib gas field is a national issue as the gas is a national resource."

Donegal wind turbine planning appeal lodged

A decision to refuse planning permission for eight wind turbine generators to be erected next to the Tyrone/Donegal border has been appealed. An application for planning permission for the 70-foot turbines in bogland near Croaghnameal, east of Donegal town, was made by Eco Wind Power Limited. The location is around 2km from the border and around 20km from the nearest town in the north, Castlederg.

The north's Planning Service said it received notification from Donegal County Council that the refusal of planning permission was being appealed. Notification of the appeal posted by the Planning Service states that “the development is likely to have significant effects on the environment in Northern Ireland”. A spokesman for Donegal County Council said neighbouring authorities were routinely kept informed of such applications.

The application had been refused on the grounds of environment rather than scale. An appeal against the refusal was lodged on October 17 and the public invited to apply to inspect the appeal by contacting Donegal County Council.

Tara Protest March on Satruday the 10th of November

SPEAKER after speaker at the Save Tara Skryne Valley protest march in Navan on Saturday paid tribute to the huge crowd for turning out and supporting them.

They obviously weren’t in the same town a few weeks ago when the march to save Navan’s Fair Green took place. Well over 1,000 marched through Navan for that rally. Around 150 took part in Saturday’s Save Tara demonstration.

Among the participants were Disney characters Mickey Mouse and Shrek, in addition to local public representatives Colr Andy Brennan and Colr Phil Cantwell, Green Party TD Ciaran Cuffe and Tara campaigner Muireann Ni Bhrolochain.

The parade was due to begin at 2pm at the Navan Railway Station yard on Railway Street, a site chosen to draw attention to the lack of a passenger rail line to Dublin. Across the road, patrons of Fulham’s public house were mounting their own counter-demonstration. On a placard, they had written slogans in support of the motorway.

“We want the road. We need jobs. We don’t want traffic jams,” they shouted over at the protestors, who were busy blowing up green and gold balloons, and face-painting. Ciaran Cuffe, Green TD, wasn’t sure which side of the street to stand on, but eventually entered the station yard.

Led off by bodhrans and the Tara Solidarity Vigil and their flame - a group who are camping on the Hill of Tara in solidarity with Dinny Donnelly’s sheep, perhaps - the march eventually began shortly after 2.30pm, and headed down Railway Street, with almost as many people filming and photographing it as there were marching.

Bemused shoppers and passers-by looked on, and there was even the odd irate spectator letting off steam.

“Save Tara, stop the road,” the marchers chanted. A Skryne man on Trimgate Street wondered why he couldn’t see any Skryne people in it, before spotting one or two. The gathering point for the rally was at Dunnes Stores, where speakers climbed up on a bale of straw in a pick-up van to address the “marvellous crowd” that had turned out.

TARA stands for ‘There Are Reasonable Alternatives’, Ciaran Cuffe told the gathering, and other speakers included Percy Jordan, a farmer from the Tara area; Muireann Ni Bhrolchain, a lecturer in Celtic studies at NUI Maynooth; Green Party senate candidate Martin Hogan from Kildare, and Damien Cassidy, a rail line campaigner, as well as Colr Phil Cantwell, Trim.

Communications Minister, local TD Noel Dempsey, was the target of the speeches by Ms Ni Bhrolochain and Colr Cantwell.

The rally concluded after an hour with Mickey Mouse and Shrek dancing outside Dunnes Stores.

Areas of Special Planning Control in Irish planning

Areas of Special Planning Control in Irish planning

“A planning authority may, if it considers that all or part of an architectural conservation area is of special importance to, or as respects, the civic life or the architectural, historical, cultural or social character of a city or town in which it is situated, prepare a scheme setting out development objectives for the preservation and enhancement of that area, or part of that area, and providing for matters connected therewith” (section 84).

Such a scheme must include objectives which achieve this – these are detailed in the Act. Such a scheme must be consistent with any development plan, local plan or IAP. It must indicate for how long it will be in force. Prioritization of objectives is encouraged in the Act. There is a very detailed procedure laid out in Section 85 of the Act for the preparation and adoption of a special planning control scheme. Such a scheme must be reviewed every 6 years. Exempted development rights do not apply in these areas. Planners must take it into consideration when assessing development applications.

For more information contact brendan@buckplanning.ie