Vital projects 'must go ahead" despite downturn

Meath will be 'plunged back into the Dark Ages' if the Government does not push ahead with 'vital' infrastructural projects in roads, railway, hospital and schools, a councillor said this week. Navan Fianna Fail Cllr Tommy Reilly also criticised the chairman of An Bord Pleanala who said that local authorities would have to undo some of the 'indiscriminate and excessive zonings' of land that are 'now completely out of line with current imperatives'. He said that extensive rezoning of land providing for industrial and commercial units was 'no problem as long as you are inside the Dublin boundary' but it was a different question when it came to counties like Meath, Wicklow and Kildare. Cllr Reilly welcomed this week"s official launch of work on phase one of the €160 million 7.5km rail line from Clonsilla to Pace, north of Dunboyne, and the progress on the new M3 motorway, but said that this should not be a signal for everyone to 'lie back on our oars'. The recent misdiagnosis of patients 'scandal' in the north-east and the overcrowding problems are Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda illustrated the need for a new regional hospital, he said. 'Now that Navan has been chosen for the site of a new regional hospital, we should get on with the job of building it. I"m not a member of the 'red-cent-school-of-thought" about the funding for important infrastructural projects like this. If we don"t have the money immediately available, we should borrow it,' said Cllr Reilly. It was now time for infrastructure such as road and rail links to be put in place to link up with the new hospital. 'I am not saying that there should be a continuation of five hospitals in the region - I maintain that a state-of-the-art regional hospital would meet the needs of the growing population. However, we should be moving on it right now instead of waiting until the current economic difficulties are sorted out,' he added. 'Every Government, even those which operated in the most difficult national economic circumstances, borrowed for these important projects. We can"t afford to stand still - the building of good transport links, hospitals and schools must go ahead if we are to provide for the future. Otherwise, we are going to fall back into the Dark Ages,' he maintained. Cllr Reilly said he was challenging remarks made by the chairman of An Bord Pleanala, John O"Connor, who said he was identifying a number of imperatives such as the economic downturn, climate change, energy costs, maximising return on infrastructural investment and avoiding 'unnecessary sprawl' into agricultural land. Referring to the incidence of councillors zoning more and more land against planning advice, he said the appeals board would continue to refuse permission if the zonings were in conflict with national policies or regional planning guidelines. He warned that, in such cases, local authorities could face massive compensation claims from developers. This should be taken into account by councillors when they rezoned land in response to 'special pleadings by landowners and other vested interests'. In dealing with planning appeals, Mr O"Connor said, the board was constantly coming across zoned sites that were too far removed from developed areas, too remote from public facilities such as piled services, footpaths, lighting and with no prospect of public service. Cllr Reilly said that he took exception to Mr O"Connor"s remarks. 'I have no problem with criticism of councillors who zoned land that should not have been zoned but I am very perturbed by the amount of refusals by An Bord Pleanala for business and industrial parks. 'It seems to me that there is one rule for inside the Dublin boundary and another for the counties outside it, like Meath, Wicklow and Kildare.' 'An Bord Pleanala can"t afford to shout about zoning and planning. Meath County Council turned down an application for a development of 463 houses at Johnstown and Pleanala overturned it and gave permission but made no provision whatever for social and affordable housing as it was required to do.' Meanwhile, Fine Gael Navan Town Council election candidate David Browne said he deplored the 'continued undermining' of Navan Hospital. 'The fact that the town"s FF councillors are not standing up to their party for the protection of the hospital is shocking. Where is the alternative to Navan Hospital? Blanchardstown, Cavan or Drogheda, all of which have bulging casualty waiting rooms?'