COMMUTER COUNTIES 8: Laois: Even tiny villages are being targeted by housing scheme developers, writes Frank McDonald, Environment Editor

Developer-led "planning" is commonplace in Laois. Even the tiny, unspoiled canalside village of Vicarstown (population 168) has been targeted for commuter-belt housing without a local area plan that might provide for its orderly development, in consultation with local residents.

In March 2000, Laois Co Council granted permission to Corrigeen Construction - run by prominent Laois builder Tommy Kane, developer of the Heritage Hotel in Portlaoise - for a scheme of 26 suburban houses and a sports hall at the edge of the village. With the support of a majority of local residents, An Taisce lodged an appeal, arguing it would set a precedent for further housing aimed at Dublin commuters - not just in Vicarstown but on the outskirts of other villages where farmers saw land as a cash crop.

Objectors noted the village had no local industry apart from tourism and lacked the infrastructure for large-scale housing development. It was not even on the council's list for a sewage treatment plant. Nobody locally felt they could object to the proposed sports hall though its promoters had said up to 100 new houses would need to be built in Vicarstown to make this facility commercially viable.

Apart from one small council housing estate, the village has remained untouched for at least 100 years, dotted with quaint old buildings mostly built from cut stone. "For Vicarstown to retain its authentic features, which are so distinctive and unique, it is important that the future of the village is planned with great sensitivity", the local heritage group said. If there was no limit on new housing "visitors and tourists will not want to come here".

An Bord Pleanála agreed, overturning Laois County Council's decision to approve the housing scheme. But less than two years later, the council granted permission for a revised plan by Corrigeen Construction for 20 houses with their own sewage treatment plant. This was again appealed by An Taisce, backed by local residents, on the basis that suburban housing was "completely inappropriate for such a tiny village and is typical of a developer-led plan which is designed to maximise profit for a select few".

Last November, for the second time in two years, An Bord Pleanála overturned the council's decision, saying the proposed development failed to respect the design and character of the village. The sewage treatment system proposed was also unsatisfactory.

Local resident and An Taisce member, Breda Keena, said opponents of the scheme had come under pressure from councillors and others who "fiercely" backed it. They were barred from using the new sports hall, built with a €120,000 National Lottery grant. Noting the earlier plan by Corrigeen Construction had been turned down by An Bord Pleanála in 2000, she said it was "unfair to local communities when they are under constant threat of having their built and natural environment destroyed".

According to Keena, the local development lobby simply wanted to cash in on Vicarstown's location by targeting new homes at people commuting to the capital by car. "The traffic is so bad now that the journey can take up to three hours." For their efforts to protect the essential qualities of Vicarstown, An Taisce and local objectors were denounced at meetings of Laois County Council in the aftermath of An Bord Pleanála's two rulings. So was The Irish Times, merely for highlighting the case.

An Taisce called on the council to agree with local residents on a sustainable development plan for the village, along the lines of a document they had drawn up two years earlier which it had so far declined to discuss with them.

Martin Riordan, newly-appointed Laois county manager, agrees local area plans or "design statements" need to be prepared to facilitate new housing in villages such as Vicarstown, with the aim of providing a viable alternative to countryside bungalows. An Taisce has a policy of appealing against "one-off" houses in Laois. At its instigation, An Bord Pleanála has just refused permission for two houses near Coolbanagher on the basis they would contravene planning policy to protect the rural environment.

The county manager is impressed by Kilminchy Village, an estate of 1,000 Dutch-style houses and apartments off the Dublin road, two miles from Portlaoise. Apart from a good mix of housing, it has a pub, a chemist, a convenience store, some small offices and a nursing home.

Riordan says the new county development plan, which the council will start drafting this year, would identify Portlaoise, Portarlington and Mountmellick as the main growth areas. With some inward investment, he even sees the prospect of "reverse commuting" to these towns. A recently-adopted land use and transportation study envisages Portlaoise's population could rise to 35,000 over the next 20 years, while an economic development study by A & L Goodbody suggests jobs will come from transport, logistics and conferences.

But despite its pivotal location on the national rail and road network, Portlaoise was bypassed by the National Spatial Strategy's designation of "gateway" and "hub" growth centres - Tullamore, Co Offaly, was favoured.

The periphery of Portlaoise has been colonised by commuter-belt housing estates, resulting in a 41 per cent increase in population between 1996 and 2002 while the town itself recorded a marginal decrease - a classic example of the "doughnut effect" in planning. Outside the council's headquarters, the fruits of misguided planning in the past are all too visible; urban renewal tax incentives were perversely used to undermine the town's main street and replace it with an ill-located shopping centre on the inner relief road.

Sewerage capacity is also a significant issue. The Southern Regional Fisheries Board, has taken appeals against some housing schemes, particularly in the Portlaoise area, arguing they could threaten water quality in the River Barrow. An "interim upgrade" of the town's sewage treatment plant is planned with developers being levied €500 per house to help finance it. The county manager sees "major potential" for new development on sites near Portlaoise's railway station.

Mountmellick, Portarlington and Stradbally are also targeted for commuter housing. In Portarlington, which has a good train service to Dublin, bungalows have been built near the railway station, where higher density residential development should have been encouraged.

According to An Taisce, development standards in Laois have been particularly poor. Recently, it lodged an appeal against a 500-unit housing scheme by Claybourne Ltd in Graiguecullen, across the Barrow from Carlow Town, describing it as "woefully designed".

As for what might happen in the future, a strategic study of population projections for Laois by Brady Shipman Martin painted a number of different scenarios. The most likely would involve continued "in-migration" by Dubliners commuting by car, bus or train to the capital.