Sir, – Newton Emerson’s recent column on Newry Next – our proposal to enable housing-led growth in the Newry/Banbridge region through targeted infrastructure investment – is a thoughtful contribution to the debate about housing and regional balance (“Turning Newry into a Dublin dormitory town: now there’s an idea,” January 15th).
One phrase used in the discussion, “dormitory town”, is worth pausing on, not as a criticism, but because it reflects assumptions that no longer fit how modern economies function.
Across the island, people in steady employment are increasingly being priced out of living near where jobs are located, and distance has become the default coping mechanism.
A more useful idea in this context is “borrowed size”: towns can share in the economic advantages of nearby cities – jobs, wages and markets – without needing to replicate those employment bases locally.
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Look at the N7, for example. The febrile public conversation there is not about dissatisfaction with where people live or the contribution they make to local economies.
It is about frustration with the time it takes to get between home and work. That is a sign of infrastructure struggling to keep pace with how people actually live.
In that context, the challenge is not to pretend commuting can be wished away, but to ensure that when people do commute – as millions already do – it is supported by infrastructure that makes it reasonable rather than punishing. The real question, then, is not where people work, but whether towns are properly serviced, well connected and able to capture the benefits of population and income growth. – Yours, etc,
GER PERDISATT,
Co-author, Newry Next,
Prosperous,
Co Kildare.
