Sir, - Eamon Ryan's comments on the containment of Dublin's urban sprawl paints a depressing picture of the manner in which land-use planning in eastern Ireland has been surrendered to the interests of big money and the construction industry. He is quite correct in criticising the complaints of development interests who argue unconvincingly that, since only 3,200 acres of unused residentially-zoned development lands exist in the greater Dublin area, massive rezonings in the urban fringe are necessary.
Given that the already zoned areas have been deemed appropriate by elected officials for the expansion of the built up area, it is surely logical that such areas should be developed first, before piecemeal cherry-picking of other new areas by development interests proceeds.
One is entitled to question why developers want local authorities to sacrifice yet more land for suburban development while enough for 100,000 extra people already exists in the greater Dublin area. Such new lands do not come without a high cost to the community. They require expensive servicing, such as the supply of water and sewerage facilities, often involving substantial capital expenditure by the national Exchequer, i.e. the taxpayer.
But the Dublin area is not unique in the over-zoning mania. In Kildare, 2,850 acres of undeveloped already zoned lands also exists, enough to provide for a 50 per cent increase in the population of that county, or about 70,000 extra people. Yet, like Dublin, still more land is being demanded by the construction industry, and it is in the process of being supplied by compliant councillors. Despite the obvious impacts of explosive growth on community structures, on educational and amenity provisions, despite threats to the quality of water in the Liffey and Dublin Bay, and in the face of intense local opposition such as was demonstrated in a public referendum in Kilcock, proposals to house a population equivalent to Galway city in the vicinity of Maynooth, Celbridge and Leixlip are being forced through Kildare County Council.
Most major European cities have a stop line, if for no other reason than to encourage the spread of development to other regions. Is there any other country where 30 per cent of the population live within 20 miles of the seat of government and where serious underdevelopment of the peripheral regions exists? The time has surely come to force development interests to accommodate themselves to a coherent national settlement policy and not allow them to shape the future of eastern Ireland according to their commercial dictates alone. Urgent decisions are required before the Dublin suburbs destroy the character of the towns of eastern Ireland as well as sucking the life out of western parts. - Yours, etc.,
John Sweeney, North Kildare Alliance for Better Planning,
Maynooth, Co Kildare.