Urban renewal `theme parks' criticised

Urban renewal "theme parks" are being created in every village in Ireland and some are already looking jaded, the Dail was told.

Mr Eamon Gilmore, Labour's environment spokesman, said it was time consideration was given to "individuality and developing the character of the town rather than trying to create Little England villages in every Irish town".

The Dun Laoghaire TD was speaking after the introduction of the Town Renewal Bill by the Minister of State for Environment, Mr Robert Molloy, who said the Bill "seeks to restore, consolidate and improve the built fabric" and "generally revitalise the towns".

County councils have put forward 102 towns for renewal, and the Minister said a decision would be made next month. He was "confident that the scheme will inject new life into the towns targeted, discourage the trend of moving to the surrounding countryside and stem the loss of shopping and other facilities to larger towns".

Mr Gilmore said small towns had enormous potential to address the housing crisis and provide good places for people to live and work. It was not enough "to introduce a town renewal plan along the lines of this Bill to prettify the main street of the town and provide tax relief for the conversion of an old warehouse into a block of apartments, for example".

In towns selected for renewal, "State agencies should not close down post offices and Garda stations, schools should be adequately resourced and capable of providing an acceptable range of subjects and planning process should be used to prevent private institutions, such as banks, from closing a branch in a small town while seeking planning permissions to extend one in a larger town," he said.

Mr Alan Dukes, Fine Gael's environment spokesman, said Mr Molloy was making "outrageously overblown claims".

"We have turned the Minister for Finance into a little god who will decide which and how many of the 102 towns proposed by county councils will get this largesse." He said this was sloppy, slipshod, opportunistic legislation and it is not the way to go about proper development".