Sir, - Recent consultants' studies on the issues of house prices and the LUAS project illustrate the serious consequences of a lack of strategic planning in the Dublin region. Since the ERDO report was published and debated now more than 10 years ago, Dublin has suffered from a lack of strategic thinking in terms of its future development and infrastructure requirements. Although, currently, strategic guidelines are being drawn up, it is ironic that three of the four planning authorities in the region have completed their development plans in advance of the strategic guidelines.
The Irish Planning Institute is very concerned about the recent decision by the Government to radically alter the proposals for a light rail system for Dublin at a very late stage in the planning process. The IPI supports the arguments by Government that projects such as these must be considered in the context of the long term and reflecting the real population growth of the city.
The IPI also acknowledges that the decision by the Government may provide the best solution in the end, provided that monies that are not being spent in the short term will be used on complementary measures in the transportation strategy such as traffic management measures. However, the arguments by the Government also prove that integrated strategic planning for a city region as large as Dublin is necessary.
While the IPI welcomes the need for a long term vision and strategic approach to projects such as LUAS, the fact that a decision of this kind has been taken at such a late stage in the process illustrates, in our view, that Dublin has lacked serious strategic planning. This is clear from the arguments of the Government supporting their decision: the need to take a long term view well into the next century and the need to take into account the substantial population growth in the city.
Both these arguments underline the absolute necessity for a city region like Dublin to have a system of integrated land use and transportation planning. The Institute notes with regret that such integrated planning has not taken place in Dublin. Is LUAS becoming another case illustrating the inability to properly plan the future development of our capital city? - Yours, etc., Henk Van Der Kamp
President, Irish Planning Institute, Merrion Square, Dublin 2.