5^th 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