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5th
March 2004
The
Secretary
Mid
East Regional Authority
St. Manntan's House
Kilmantin Hill
Wicklow
Re.
Regional Planning Guidelines Greater Dublin Area Draft for Consultation
Dear
Madam / Sir,
On
behalf of the Green Party, we wish to make the following points.
Recent
trends in transportation and land use have been contrary to the sustainable
development of the region. The 'Sustainable Development Scenario' (NSS)
outlined on page 7 of Appendix A is overly optimistic that the NSS will be
delivered. To date there is little evidence that there is a commitment to its
delivery and its initially weak proposals have been further diluted by the
"Decentralization" Programme announced in autumn of 2003 and by the recent
publication of the so-called "Sustainable
Rural Housing Guidelines". We therefore recommend the following:
-The
Guidelines should recommend that at least two thirds of transportation capital
investment in the future should favour public transportation. (It is a matter of
concern that the provision of a Dublin – Navan rail line, first proposed in
the DTI final report of 1994 and included in the Strategic Planning Guidelines
of 1999 is now effectively given less priority in the wording on page 68.)
-A
Green Belt should be provided within the 'Metropolitan' Area in order to
ensure that existing towns and villages with strong character are not subsumed
by suburban sprawl.
-One-off
housing that leads to long distance car-based commuting should be strongly
discouraged.
-Greater
protection should be given to reservoir water catchment areas, and the
presumption should be that development not be allowed upstream of any such
reservoirs.
-There
should be an emphasis on providing mixed-use medium density developments
adjacent to fixed-line public transportation nodes. This can be encouraged
through the development of detailed Local Area Plans.
-The
Guidelines should recognize the importance of small infill sites in
accommodating housing needs within the Region
Sincerely,
Ciarán
Cuffe TD,
Eamon Ryan TD
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