The adoption of the plan for Dunleer is another example of perverse planning, writes Frank McDonald, Environment Editor
Dunleer, Co Louth, is a small place. A village with a population of not much more than 1,000, it's not very important in the scheme of things, neither a "hub" nor a "gateway" in the Government's much-vaunted National Spatial Strategy. However, thanks to the majority of Louth county councillors, Dunleer is going to be developed whether its inhabitants like it or not. It appears the only beneficiaries will be local landowners whose fields have been turned into gold by rezoning decisions taken against planning advice.
Like so many other small places in Leinster, Dunleer suffers from the misfortune of being within driving distance of Dublin. And with the capital's commuter belt extending ever outwards, it is now in danger of being engulfed by suburban housing targeted at the wider Dublin market.
The completion of the M1 motorway as far as Dundalk makes Dunleer even more accessible to long-distance commuters, a point that will not be lost on estate agents engaged to sell new houses on its outskirts or to promote the proposed "tourist retail village" now included in the local area plan.
It is worth recalling what local area plans were meant to be about. As envisaged by the 2000 Planning Act, they were to provide a framework for orderly development, at a more micro level than broad-brush county plans. And it was all to be done in consultation with the local community.
Instead, local plans are being widely used by councillors as tools to rezone land at the behest of those who stand to gain from such decisions.
The north Co Wexford town of Gorey is the most notorious example of this perverted planning, but the pattern is clearly being repeated elsewhere.
The Dunleer plan has become something of a saga. Though the first draft produced by Dublin architects and urban designers Murray O'Laoire, on behalf of Louth County Council, had widespread local support, attempts to aggrandise and undermine it were quickly set in train.
The five mid-Louth councillors, led by Cllr Tommy Reilly (FF), commissioned their own rival plan for extensive land rezoning - and then proceeded to vote it through in May 2002. Indeed, it was actually adopted on Reilly's casting vote as chairman of the council, amid some consternation.
One of the five, Cllr Thomas Clare (FF), who is the only member of the county council living in Dunleer, broke ranks with his colleagues to disown the replacement plan - known as Plan B - describing it as "a complete sham" because there had been no consultation with the community.
Sean O'Laoire, of Murray O'Laoire, dissociated himself from the councillors' plan, saying he was "saddened that our best endeavours on behalf of Louth County Council and the people of Dunleer have been disregarded". This could only compound public cynicism of planning, he warned.
Plan B was also opposed by the then Louth county manager, John Quinlivan, and by the council's senior planner, Gerry Duffy, on the basis that the land it rezoned was totally excessive for Dunleer's needs. They advised that, legally, it would have to go back on public exhibition.
Common sense seemed to have prevailed a couple of months ago when the council decided, by 16 votes to five, to revert to the original plan. Of the 67 submissions received from the public since then, the vast majority - more than 80 per cent - also favoured this course of action.
Yet when it came to the crunch last Monday, the majority of councillors came down in favour of the small minority - landowners with vested interests who had lobbied hard to have their particular parcels rezoned for development, whatever the planners had to say about it.
The most high-profile winner in this game of "democracy" was Donal Kinsella, a businessman who had sought to have his 47-acre family farm rezoned for a "tourist retail outlet village" despite the fact that there is no provision for such a facility in the county council's retail strategy.
By a majority of 18 votes to one, the council went along with Kinsella's long-canvassed plan. The main reason given by its proposers, Cllr Nicholas McCabe (FF) and Cllr Declan Breathnach (FF), was that it should be allowed to go ahead as it was the only such proposal for Co Louth.
This is essentially an argument for abandoning planning altogether and leaving everything to "market forces". Why bother adopting a retail strategy that doesn't provide for a "tourist retail outlet village" in the county if councillors are going to facilitate it on a first-come, first-served basis? For Kinsella, who is a leading Fianna Fáil figure in Co Louth, the effect of the councillors' decision will be significant. His farm at Woodland - outside Dunleer's development boundary - might fetch €10,000 an acre. Now it could be worth €200,000 an acre, according to some estimates.
Another major beneficiary of last Monday's council meeting is Aidan Kinsella (no relation), who controls Katsar-Sentosa Properties. Thanks to a majority of councillors, 18 acres of land which the company has been seeking to develop has now been rezoned for commuter-belt housing.
Aidan Kinsella, like his namesake, has friends in high places. The Minister for Marine, Communications and Natural Resources, Dermot Ahern, made representations on his behalf, enclosing a letter from him which said senior council officials were "very opposed" to developing Dunleer.
And well they might be, given that Dundalk is the county's only designated "gateway" under the National Spatial Strategy. As An Taisce said this week, the effect of dissipating development to Dunleer and other locations will only undermine Dundalk's chances of achieving "critical mass".
The decision to rezone Katsar- Sentosa's land was taken on a tight margin of just eight votes to seven. Afterwards, Cllr Clare left the meeting in disgust. He had put it to pro- development colleagues to explain publicly why they had changed their minds and was met with a deafening silence.
According to reliable sources, some wavering councillors were told to stay away from the meeting, or at least to abstain, just in case the vote went the wrong way. This adds more meat to the call by community activists, such as Gerry Crilly, for some form of public inquiry into what happened.
The Minister for the Environment, Martin Cullen, has the power under the 2000 Planning Act to "call in" local area plans and even county development plans if he believes they are in defiance of public policy. He also has the power to rescind them. It will be interesting to see whether he exercises these powers.