It was an inspired vision: the heart of Tallaght would be transformed from a sprawling landscape of piecemeal commercial, recreational and residential developments to an attractive city of streets and squares.

Office buildings and industrial warehouses would no longer stand desolate behind high walls and a sea of car-parking spaces. Urban "integration" and "connectivity" with the streetscapes and the local community were the keywords.

Within five years central Tallaght would become a vibrant pedestrian-oriented environment with interactive public spaces and medium-rise buildings at street level. The days of randomly throwing up a patchwork of developments without regard to the bigger picture were over. Unsightly gaps of rubbish-strewn land would be filled with bars, restaurants and shops at street level and at least 1,000 apartments on the upper floors of new buildings with existing surface car-parking replaced by multi-storey structures behind the new street frontages.

It truly was an exciting, if somewhat overly optimistic, plan: three years after South Dublin County Council unveiled its £250 million (€317m) construction programme as part of the Tallaght 2000 integrated area plan which qualifies for tax incentives, many of its objectives are still stuck in what must, by now, be a very clogged pipeline.

And if the Government does not grant an extension of the urban renewal initiative to allow schemes to be completed, it could mean this tantalising vision of the future is never realised.

"December 2002 is rapidly approaching," says Dara Larkin, Tallaght IAP's project manager. "Various difficulties have hampered progress, from planning appeals, to the slowdown of property construction and the length of time it is taking to assemble multiple ownership sites. If the scheme is not extended it will have a detrimental effect. There will be only so many square metres of development achieved and it will put the brakes on the council's vision."

If the extension is not forthcoming, the handful of new developments achieved within the time frame will stand as cruel reminders of what could have been - a smattering of dislocated second generation developments which will only serve to further fragment the townscape.

Few will deny that mistakes were made the first time around. Large groups of people were catapulted out of the city centre to fend for themselves in an area with scant community facilities. In recent decades, efforts have been made to to build a sense of community and cohesion through local groups, clubs and organisations and this has been helped by the establishment of the Institute of Technology, Tallaght and the long awaited Tallaght Hospital.

The Square shopping centre has provided some focus for Tallaght and the area has a strong industrial and commercial base.

But it became evident that only a massive building campaign could bring the disparate elements of one of the country's largest conurbations together.

"Tallaght is in the intermediate stage of development," says Larkin. "It's like a north American town in that the whole format of the place is dedicated to the car and most developments are surrounded by car -parks. We want to move away from that with higher densities in accordance with the new residential guidelines. We want the more urban feel you get when buildings are part of the streetscape. People will be able to walk around a series of civic squares which will be linked to the urban townspace. The way it's set up at the moment with buildings hidden behind roads, walls, railings and car-parks is not conducive to people meeting each other." There have been a number of hitches in getting one of the pivotal projects off the ground - a £140 million (€177.76m) new shopping area to be called Millennium Square, which will be on council land.

A nine-storey over basement extension to the existing Square shopping centre, it will also comprise 360 apartments, two small hotels, 107,000 sq ft of offices, restaurants, bars and a nightclub.

It is also to have 152,000 sq ft of retail space and 1,500 car-parking spaces. There will also be a Luas station in this vicinity. According to Larkin, the developers - a consortium made up mainly of lending institutions - are "re-evaluating" at the moment.

According to the IAP annual report, "there have been recent discussions with the developer for revision and phasing of the proposal". Some industry sources believe the existing shopping centre could do with a radical updating. While it remains a busy shopping centre, it is very much of its time.

"It's visibility can be quite limited," says one commercial agent, "there are a lot of kiosks in it and there's a lot happening. Some people like the fact that you can wander around and almost get lost in it but many of the modern retailers prefer the set up in the Pavilion, Swords and Blanchardstown where you can see the entire length of the mall. The Square lacks many of the mainstream retailers that are populating other centres."

In the Integrated Area Plan annual report, "renegotiation" has been cited as the reason behind the delay in the sale of several council sites. Another site deemed crucial to the plan is a 3.9-acre ground located northwest of The Square shopping centre which is awaiting a tender decision.

"We are now down to two candidates," says Larkin, "and plan to make a decision soon. It will have a residential element to the north and a commercial to the south and will be connected to Millennium Square and a 6.6 acre parcel of land ot the west owned by CI╔. Unfortunately, there have been recent directions by Government to hang onto the site pending an investigation of the feasibility of the Metro transport system.

"Our attitude is that they should deal with it in terms of reservations - leave the reservations and develop the rest. It is a very large site and if left undeveloped it would blight the whole development of the town centre."

Another .98-acre council-owned site at the corner of the Tallaght bypass and the recently constructed Cookstown-Town Centre road has been tendered twice. The first time it only received only one submission which was deemed unsuitable. This time there are six interested parties but a decision has yet to be made. The council wants "a good strong building" for the prominent site, which is zoned for town uses, and it is envisaged will be four or five storeys high, with residential tax incentives.

At the east end of the village, Park Developments and the Molloy group have a 4.5 acre site which has planning permission for over 60,000 sq ft of office accommodation, over 30,000 sq ft of retail and residential, as well as 85 apartments and 11,000 sq ft which will comprise retail, a bar and cafΘ.

Davin developments has planning permission for 60,000 sq ft of offices and retail and 54 apartments to be called Centrepoint in the north east corner of the Square. If the extension is granted and all of these developments see completion, it will go a long way towards mending "the division of the town centre," says Larkin. "It will provide Tallaght with a modern town centre and a decent streetscape with a strong residential function that will be lively by day as well as by night."