Infrastructure issues highlighted as planning framework discussed

SENIOR planner Sorcha Walsh presented an overview of the National Planning Framework at the most recent meeting of Wicklow County Council.

Project Ireland 2040 aims to provide high-level strategic planning and development for the country over the next 20plus years.

Certain aspects on how the plan in Wicklow will be implemented have already been revealed. A park and ride programme will identify strategic park and ride sites in the country, plus investment in parking facilities at rail and bus locations. Greystones is one of the locations singled out.

Another aim of the National Development Plan is the sustainable management of water and other environmental resources. So far €150 million has been invested into the Vartry Water Supply Scheme with the funding designed to ensure and safe and sustainable water supply.

Wicklow town is one of the locations which will be provided with a refurbished courthouse, with court sittings not having taken place in the town since 2010.

There are also plans to enhance the visitors experience at Wicklow Mountains National Park through further investment in visitor facilities.

Cllr Derek Mitchell had concerns over the lack of investment in infrastructure to cope with an increase in housing construction.

‘In Greystones, we have in the region of 600 houses being built and the roads promised 30 years ago are no closer to completion,’ said Cllr Mitchell. ‘ The schools, for the most part, have followed growth but the roads haven’t. It is essential the N11 works take place or the whole east coast of Wicklow will seize up.’

He was also critical of Wicklow’s rail service and proposed a lobbying campaign on behalf of the county in order to obtain more train carriages.

‘People hardly use the rail line because a terrible service is being provided. You have four times the amount of people using the train in Carlow compared to Wicklow. Clearly an improved service is required. The shuttle was used before and failed dismally. We need to lobby to get some of the new carriages coming on stream in 2019. I think eight need to be allocated to Wicklow,’ he said.

Cllr Vincent Blake felt the development of many rural parts of the county were being held up because of a lack of water and sewerage capacity.

‘At Baltinglass Municipal District we have met with Irish Water and emphasised the real need for water and sewage in some of our smaller rural towns and villages. We are trying to move things on with Irish Water but very little progress has been made,’ said Cllr Blake.

Cllr Grainne McLoughlin wondered if some of the national framework’s details might contradict some of Wicklow’s local area plans.

‘Everything depends on what is going to happen at the end of the day. We have implemented local area plans but can we actually go ahead with any of it? Also, what about the next batch of local area development plans?’ she asked.

Ms Walsh, Senior Planner, responded that the council does have concerns over the issue.

‘Recently, we have been working on the Newtownmountkennedy plan and the local community have really bought into a new plan for the town. Different community groups have been actively engaging with us and we have had a number of well-attended public meetings. We don’t know how they would feel if we came back and said “that plan has to be binned and we need to come up with another one.” That could result in them failing to engage with us again. We will learn more over the next few months,’ said Ms Walsh.