New regional strategy faces plenty of criticism

COUNCILLORS voiced their frustration over the lack of transparency involved in Regional and Economic Strategy (RSES) which will be considered by the Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly on Friday.

The RSES will identify the Eastern and Midland region’s key strategic assets, opportunities and challenges and set out key policies.

A special Wicklow County Council meeting to discuss the RSES was held on Monday, with Councillors complaining about a lack of transparency. There is also a major difference between population and housing projections contained in the County Development Plan adopted in 2016 and those provided by civil servants for the RSES.

Councillors Irene Winters, Tommy Cullen, Pat Vance and Derek Mitchell represent Wicklow on the Easter and Midland Regional Assembly.

‘In a pre-draft we received, there was actually 10,000 of a drop on the 35,000 units we had down to build in the County Development Plan. That would have required dezoning and we put up a massive campaign to prevent this, along with members of councils from Meath and Kildare, and to a lesser extent Louth,’ said the cathaoirleach, Cllr Pat Vance.

Cllr Vance also thanked the Council Executive and Pat Casey TD for their involvement from a very early stage.

Cllr Chris Fox said: ‘It hasn’t been poorly handled. It’s been dreadfully handled. To keep local Councillors in the complete dark is a disgrace and the lack of transparency is dreadful’.

Cllr Fox added that in no way did he want to see any dezoning of lands take place in Wicklow to accommodate the RSES once it is adopted.

‘It is imperative that our representatives and others insist that no dezoning will take place and not just through a verbal commitment or gentleman’s handshake. It has to be stitched into the text.’

He also had concerns over the potential impact on once off housing in the county.

‘If the media is correct and shadow areas are to be created then it will have a huge impact on one-off planning. I have huge concerns as it stands already and this would just prove to be the final nail in the coffin. We should be deciding on one-off planning based on our own County Development plan’.

Cllr Jim Ruttle said ‘at a time of a national housing crisis, we need more houses, not less’.

He too had concerns over one off rural housing and expressed his disbelief that the N81 wasn’t yet mentioned in the draft document, nor the Blessington Greenway.

‘ The N81 is hugely important from a social, business and safety point of view. Blessington Greenway should also be a major part of any strategy and is of huge regional importance,’ said Cllr Ruttle.

Cllr Jennifer Whitmore took issue with the manner in which the process was being carried out.

‘It started in a very, very secretive manner. We haven’t been given any information here and that greatly concerns me. It is a huge issue and we will need our TDs behind us to make sure Wicklow is being represented properly’.

Cllr Irene Winters said the figures contained in the original plan were ‘ridiculous’ and used Naas in County Kildare as an example.

‘ They are saying Naas can grow to 90,000. There are 90,000 people there already. Basically they are saying you can’t build a house in Naas’.

Cllr Derek Mitchell said Kildare and Meath were experiencing similar difficulties to Wicklow. He was also worried that infrastructure in Greystones wasn’t improving despite the number of houses in the area due to come on stream.

‘Greystones is growing very fast. You have about 1,000 houses being built. We are catching up with Bray population wise, but the infrastructure hasn’t been brought in’.

He also called for further improvements to public transport network serving Greystones and other parts of the county.

Cllr Edward Timmins feared An Bord Pleanála could use the RSES as a reason to turn down rural planning applications.

‘A lot of work went into our County Development Plan. For this to supersede and undermine it would be disastrous. Regarding rural planing, there was a recent An Bord Pleanála case in west Wicklow where the board quoted national documents over the County Development Plan as reasons for a refusal. I would be concerned that this could be used by An Bord Pleanála to overrule plannings we have already granted, quoting this document as the reason to refuse’.

The lack of mention of the N81 also angered him. ‘It is the one major artery out of Dublin which has received no investment in decades, when every other artery has received upgrades,’ said Cllr Timmins. Cllr John Snell said the document has ‘ the potential to be an unmitigated disaster for the people of Wicklow and for the future of housing’. He added: ‘I wouldn’t support the dezoning of a single unit, never mind 3,000, and I’m sure every member shares these sentiments’.