Kildare North Labour Party in making this submission draws on the recent history of growth within County Kildare. That history we believe, because of the extent of the growth, places those of us who have witnessed this growth in a unique position to comment. We have called for an initiative such as the National Spatial Strategy over a long number of years and welcome the work that is underway. We would have ideally liked to see the work on this project completed prior to the adoption of the current National Development Plan, the recently approved, Housing Strategies and the current round of County Development Plans. We acknowledge that the National Spatial Strategy has the potential to lead the way in the future. It must however take account of the reality and we have pointed to issues that need to be addressed in that context.
Recent Kildare History:
County Kildare has experienced a population increase of one third over the past twenty years. The percentage increase in population in North Kildare is even greater. Similar patterns have been experienced in Fingal, South Dublin, Meath, Dunlaoghaire Rathdown and Wicklow.
National recognition of the needs of rapidly developing areas is absolutely necessary if we are not to repeat the mistakes made by the developers stretching back to the 1960's.
NSS should be more than a Physical Plan:
A strategy for the physical development on its own will result in compounding and repeating the same problems, with large tracts of Irish cities/counties being turned into housing estates which, whether private or local authority, were left bereft of essential facilities. The situation led to years of campaigning by residents associations who had to fight for everything that is necessary for healthy communities - shops and services, community and recreational facilities schools and transport facilities, in many communities that campaigning is ongoing. At present, the facilities available in the Kildare Towns are more suited to village living than to the large urban developments which have sprung up over the last twenty years.
Recent Market Driven Approach unbalanced:
This growth has been market driven rather than planned, much of the facilities that should accompany that growth have at best been development led. Development fatigue has become a feature, particularly in the areas that have experienced large scale house construction and there is resistance to continued large scale growth without the accompanying infrastructure, services and facilities.
The recurring complaint is the lack of connection between housing growth and social, cultural, educational, transport, infrastructural needs, similar to that identified on Page 8 "Box 1 Frequently Recurring Topics from Public Consultation".
One dimensional growth pattern poses problems:
Population growth in Co. Kildare has been, to a large extent, one dimensional. Developers build housing estates without giving much thought to he services needed to maintain an acceptable quality of life for the people who will live in them. A high proportion of those moving into Co. Kildare have young families, at a critical stage in their development. The kind of one dimensional development that is taking place in Kildare at the moment is not adequately providing for their educational, health, commercial , social or leisure needs.
Planning is not just about rezoning land for houses, its is about planning for our educational needs from primary to third level; for the provision of water and the disposal of waste; for the development of a commercial infrastructure and the extension of recreational facilities. Its about ensuring sustainable development and creating the sense of belonging to a strong, self -determining community
However different it may be rapid growth creates as many problems for a region as depopulation does.
Critical Mass Page 16 states "The size, concentration and characteristics of population that enable a range of services and facilities to be supported and which, in turn, can attract and support higher levels of economic activity. This in turn tends to enlarge the population and so further supports a strengthening of services and facilities. It represents the achievement of a state of development that permits the beginning of a chain reaction of onward growth and development".
This statement does not match the reality of suburban area's within Cities i.e. Dublin West or our own experience in Kildare North where many additional facilities have only occurred following a crisis in for example in classroom provision or direct community action in relation to sporting and recreation provision but largely these communities have been left to fend for themselves.
The targeted approach described in the document in relation to Gateway towns should learn from the above experience and selection of existing settlements that have a reasonable core would be important in avoiding a repetition of the problems described.
Demographic imbalance
The demographic imbalance in the County with the South and North West of Kildare experiencing static or declining population at a time when North Kildare's population was experiencing very extensive population increases relative to its size. In the Current Kildare County Development Plan there is a strategy to redress this, this strategy is endorsed by the Strategic Planning Guidelines for the Greater Dublin Area.
Market forces would dictate where development would occur unless there is a higher availability of developable land in the South and North West of the County. This will not be unique to Kildare and is the type of example the NSS will need to address if it is to be successfully implemented. If sufficient land is available for development in the Greater Dublin Area (Dublin, Fingal, South Dublin, Dunlaoghaire/Rathdown, Kildare, Meath & Wicklow) the reality will be a continuation of the status quo.
The demographic imbalance manifests itself in other ways an example being the disproportionately young age profile of the population of North Kildare and West Dublin. This poses serious supply side problems for a time it makes poor use of educational/sporting facilities with these facilities unable to cope for a time and becoming underused/redundant in the long term. Incremental growth provides a much better pattern in that respect.
Resourcing Agencies to cope with growth essential:
Because of the amount of zoned land available in the Greater Dublin Area strong housing growth will continue into the foreseeable future. Recently adopted Housing Strategies in this area reinforce and even drive future development pressure. It will be necessary for the National Spatial Strategy to take account of this when completing its plan.
This must be considered in conjunction with the needs of the existing communities and consolidation of those communities must form part of the strategy. This will go beyond physical planning but must be accompanied by financial planning, with increases for population growth to the Local Authorities under the Local Government Fund in order that day to day needs are met, and development funding for necessary infrastructure and services. These communities are playing catch up and must be assisted if "Development Fatigue" is to be addressed.
City & County Development Boards:
As described on page 26 "County and City Development Boards may be the appropriate bodies to have responsibility for ensuring that their strategic agenda for integrated development at county and city level, in which all of their participating bodies, including local authorities, are involved, is consistent with the National Spatial Strategy."
These bodies are indeed well placed and broadly representative and could well be such a mechanism, however there is currently no provision in the funding of local government for population growth (see attached table) this matter would have to be addressed if local authorities are to be expected to fulfil that role. The same profile affects other constituent agencies/authorities attached to the Development Board's.
Some of the work of County Development Boards to date involved broad consultation with the community, results of the Kildare consultation point to many of the issues we identify in this submission.
If Development Boards are to be meaningful in addressing the broad strategic issues the constituent parts must be resourced to do this.
Guiding Principles:
The Guiding Principles as set out on Page 9 are comprehensive but should include a principle of consolidating rapidly expanding communities to ensure they can provide for new residents without significant loss of "quality of life" to the existing community.
Functional Areas
The functional areas as outlined are a practical description of reality.
We are of the opinion that the current Regional Authorities would need to be reconfigured to take account of that reality.
We accept there is some element of overlap but it is difficult to see how Regional Authorities can assume a Strategic Planning Function if there functional area does not bear resemblance to the reality.
We are also of the opinion that these bodies should be democratically elected in order that they will have democratic legitimacy.