Wicklow community groups to unite in planning alliance

Members of community groups from across Wicklow will meet in Ashford tonight to demand redress for what they claim is "a democratic deficit" in planning issues in the county.

Styling themselves the Wicklow Planning Alliance (WPA), the groups will launch a campaign for a "public consultation process in line with other local authorities".

Four members have recently taken High Court action against the county council.

"We have learnt a lot from going to court and fighting our respective issues. Now we want to share this knowledge with others and develop a sustainable plan for the county," says the chairwoman, Ms Judy Osborne.

Some of the groups, such as the Ballynagran/Coolbeg Action Group and the Wicklow Heritage Trust, are also calling for the costs incurred by the county council in promoting a number of schemes to be made public.

In a statement issued yesterday, the WPA said its objective would be to ensure "sustainable and balanced development in County Wicklow within the context of an integrated National and Regional Plan. The plan should ensure that the greater Dublin region is not over-developed at the expense of the more rural parts of Ireland."

The WPA is also calling for "bottom up consultation at the inception of all planning initiatives," enforcement of all planning decisions, reduced costs for appeals and a punitive windfall gains tax on all land revaluations resulting from rezoning decisions.

In addition, the group sees the enhancement of natural, cultural, archaeological and social amenities, as well as heritage resources, as a priority. The provision of an appropriate infrastructure, according to the WPA, should be based on the needs of the area, "and not merely a dormitory town, water source or disposal site for the greater Dublin region."

In Arklow, a local action group is opposing the siting of a £10 million sewage treatment plant on what it claims is the "town's one remaining unspoilt beach".

In Blessington, the sale of the Glen Ding woods to Cement Roadstone Holdings has already been well documented. But local people claim that it was inappropriate for the county council to grant planning permission to Roadstone for quarrying within weeks of the issue going to court.

Similarly at Ballynagran, near Rathnew, residents say they were angered that compulsory purchase order procedures to acquire land for a planned super-dump were initiated within weeks of that case being heard by the High Court.

In Delgany, another residents' action group is at present petitioning the High Court for a judicial review of a decision to grant planning permission for a 263-house scheme on the outskirts of the village.

An Bord Pleanala had previously ruled that no further development take place on the road in question pending improvements to the road infrastructure in the area, notably by the provision of a Delgany bypass.