Temperature rises in war of words

National conservation organisation, An Taisce, has strongly hit back this week at criticism from Meath County Councillors, attacking the local authority"s for supporting business development in the county on land not zoned for the purpose. The statement from its national headquarters in Dublin adds a new dimension to the simmering row between Independent Meath County Councillor, Brian Fitzgerald, council chairman, Cllr Nicholas Killian, and the organisation, with both elected members having strongly criticised An Taisce recently for objecting to a business park development in the county. An Taisce accused elected members of the council of 'failing to address the legal consequences of considering continued material contraventions of the Meath County Development Plan for development in unzoned, unserviced rural area with poor road access and no public transport, and the effect of this in creating traffic problems and pollution in Co Meath for decades to come'. The conservation group said there already was 'a sufficient area of zoned land within the Meath County Council area to accommodate business park and industrial development'. Much of this zoned land abutted urban areas or public transport corridors and it was recommended that these locations should be subject to higher density public transport-oriented development. Both An Taisce and Cllr Fitzgerald, in his response, identified the Regional Planning Guidelines (RPGs) for the Greater Dublin Area (GDA) as central to the debate. Cllr Fitzgerald said An Taisce had 'totally ignored the RPGs in relation to economic development where there is a very clear objective to improve the current position of County Meath as having the lowest percentage number of jobs related to the workforce of the region.' He said the RPGs clearly indicated that every effort should be made to redress this situation. However, An Taisce said the county council already had been 'indicted for its disregard of the provisions of the RPGs in the 2004 Court judgement, McEvoy and Smith versus Meath County Council, as well as a large number of planning decisions'. Most recently and significantly, said An Taisce, was An Bord Pleanala"s refusal for the Royal Gateway Business Park at Piercetown, Dunboyne. In addition to refusing this development on the basis of contravention of provisions of the RPGs, the board also specifically cited as a ground for refusal that the proposal would constitute inappropriate 'car-based' development. Problematic for An Taisce has been the use of the material contravention power by Meath County Councillors. Most recently, it claimed, they had approved an additional material contravention to allow Mr Robin Rennicks to development a business park in an unzoned area between the N2 and N3. The conservation group noted that in previous material contraventions (of the County Development Plan), elected members of Meath County Council had given 'inappropriate consideration to the potential contribution of development to the rates revenue of the county.' Said An Taisce: ' This (rates revenue) is not a material consideration for the granting of planning permission provided for under Section 34, Planning and Development Act, 2000.' Any suggestion that consideration favouring a particular planning application was swayed by the potential of rates revenue, either by elected members, planners or management, would render such a decision ultra vires and expose the council to legal action, including a recovery of costs, claimed An Taisce in its statement. Cllr Fitzgerald, for his part, raised the question of why An Taisce had not engaged with Meath County Council during the planning stages in relation to the Royal Gateway proposal rather than, as he said, 'waiting to do the maximum damage to the development' (by objecting to Bord Pleanala) with the loss of over 1,000 jobs and a world-famous company as its anchor tenant. Cllr Fitzgerald added that the Royal Gateway site beside Dunboyne was next-door to two major companies, one of which expanded recently (without any objections from An Taisce). The said lands, he added, were part of the current Integrated Landuse Study and would form part of the Local Area Plan (LAP) for Clonee. 'We cannot force investors of this quality and size to go where we want them to,' stressed Cllr Fitzgerald. 'We have to try to facilitate them to the best of our ability; otherwise, they move elsewehere.' He accused the conservation group of having 'inflicted more hardship on the many daily commuters who would have had an opportunity to work 12 miles from the city and 1,000 metres from the new rail line'. He also demanded where the logic was in the An Taisce argument regarding car use. 'Show me a business park in the country that does not require some people to use their cars to get to work,' he said. He also asked when An Taisce was going to accept that the courts had ruled in favour of Meath County Council in the McEvoy and Smith case.