For some it is adding insult to injury, for others it is "futuristic". Even as Bray, Co Wicklow, tries to come to terms with the impact on its Victorian esplanade of a controversial coastal protection scheme, a consortium has proposed a "radical" £350 million development of the seafront. The plan, prepared by McCabe Delaney and Associates, Consulting Engineers, for a group of business interests known as the Bray Seafront Development Company, involves 1,000 to 1,200 residential units, an enclosed sandy beach and a 250-berth yacht marina.
The proposed site is on land which would have to be reclaimed beyond the existing shoreline. The development's focal point is an indoor recreational and entertainment centre - similar, it is proposed, to the Sydney Opera House or the unfortunate Millennium Dome.
Ironically, another seaside resort, but on the Atlantic seaboard, is also the subject of a grand plan. Dr Bill Grealish, a general practitioner based in Salthill, Galway, is behind an estimated £50 million proposal to build an 80-metre tower (11 metres higher than Dublin's Liberty Hall), incorporating a "diaspora centre", a hotel and up-market apartments overlooking Galway Bay.
The proposed development will also include a heritage park with a replica of Galway's Claddagh village, a replica round tower and replicas of other well-known national monuments. Underground parking for up to 1,000 cars will be provided, he says.
Dr Grealish argues that Galway's most famous asset, its bay, hasn't been fully capitalised on, and needs an observation point. The foreshore area identified is not part of the Grattan estate, he says, which was the subject of a court action during the initial stages of the Mutton Island sewage treatment plant construction.
"There's no beach there, it is just shale and rock, and it isn't used for anything much," he says. "It won't interfere with the promenade." Galway, he believes, has "nothing that visitors must see or must do". This could fill that gap, he says.
The project will involve reclaiming up to five acres of land on Salthill's foreshore, extending from Seapoint ballroom westwards. The "Disneyfication of what is left of true Irish culture", is how one critic, Herb Meyer, has described the project in a letter to the local press, while An Taisce's Galway branch initially reserved judgment, but has now come out against the proposal on the basis that part of the foreshore is in a designated Special Protection Area. It also believes that there should be no such development before a coastal zone management plan for the bay is in place.
Dr Grealish claims to have the support of several Chicago-based Irish-American business interests, and he has already approached the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources and Galway West TD, Frank Fahey; Minister of State for Rural Development, Eamon O Cuiv; several other politicians and local interests to seek support.
He claims that, in January, the Minister for the Marine "announced" the project on local radio in Galway before he intended to go public himself, and is very enthusiastic. However, a spokesman for the Minister says Fahey cannot express approval, as the venture would be subject to planning regulations and a foreshore lease or licence from the Minister's department.
Both the Salthill and Bray ventures are very much at the drawing board stage. And, though we live in an era of grand projets - not quite of the Mitterand style - there is a view that such ambitious ideas may never be realised. Neither of the two aforementioned have been submitted for planning permission at time of writing. Bray Urban District Council's town clerk, Tom Murphy, says that the seafront project has been presented to the general purposes committee and simply "noted" by both it and the full council, without either support or disapproval having been expressed.
However, the Green Party councillor for Wicklow, Deirdre de Burca, is concerned about the timing, coming so soon after completion of the controversial State-backed coastal protection scheme there. She is strongly opposed to this proposed new development in Bray - which would require a variation of the Bray Town Development Plan - as she believes it would destroy the Victorian promenade and ruin the view of the seafront. And she raises a question: is coastal protection being undertaken for environmental, or developmental, reasons ?
The controversy over the essential coastal protection works divided the community, and Bray UDC now has the task of seeking tenders for an enhancement of the seafront environment. The £350 million business project was being talked about, albeit in general terms, up to a year ago, she says. "Councillors in Bray had to vote for one of several protection schemes presented to them, while also being lobbied to support this private venture. That may have influenced voting. I believe that represents a conflict of interest," she says.
In contrast to many over-developed and "privatised" locations in Europe, Irish coastal zones are still State-owned under the Foreshore Act, but the "public space" aspect of that ownership is often overlooked. It is an issue that has arisen again and again in relation to rows over marinas, fish farm projects and other developments, including engineering projects to arrest the effects of erosion. The inclusion of a marina in the Bray project would qualify it for potential State aid. That highlights another conflict of interest identified by several environmental groups - the brief held by the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources.
ON the one hand, the Minister is responsible for approving foreshore leases or licences for activities like fish farming and marina developments on the coastline. He also has a responsibility for the protection of the coastal environment, both in terms of short-term threats like pollution and long-term problems caused by erosion. On the other hand, he is also responsible for disbursing £20 million earmarked in the National Development Plan for marine tourism, the bulk of which is expected to go towards marina developments with particular focus on the Border, Midland and Western (BMW) region.
Recently, Fahey convened a meeting to discuss potential marina projects for that area. The Minister invited various interest groups, including the Galway Bay Sailing Club, which has plans for a marina at Renville, near Oranmore, and the Galway Harbour Company. Afterwards, an Taisce's Galway branch criticised his failure to invite it and other groups concerned with planning and heritage.
An Taisce says it is not against marina developments per se, but it is on record as calling for an overall plan for the Galway docks area. There may be a temptation to spend EU structural funding while it is available, but An Taisce is not happy with piecemeal development which serves private commercial interests - and affects public space.
It could be argued that, in the absence of a coastal zone management strategy, the Minister for the Marine can only do his job. He can be informed by and respect regional and local initiatives, such as the excellent Bantry Bay Coastal Zone Charter (which involved over 60 organisations, including Cork County Council), in drawing up a model of best practice in an environment, in which some 12,000 people are involved in extensive agriculture, the State's second largest fisheries harbour, the only oil trans-shipment terminal and tourism. The CLAMS (Co-ordinated Local Aquaculture Management Systems) scheme backed by Bord Iascaigh Mhara and Fahey's own department, has reduced the potential for disputes in many other areas over sustainable fish farm ventures.
The Department of the Environment is currently committed to a national spatial strategy as part of the National Development Plan (NDP), but it is unclear as to whether coastal zone management is within its remit. Down the list of "main issues" identified by that department for the spatial strategy is the "need for special politices on coastal zones and other high amenity areas". What is clear is that the current NDP has no explicit policy for integrated management of the coastal zone. As a recent document by An Taisce and Mayo County Council on sustainable tourism on Mayo's coastline points out, the NDP also has limited policies in respect of tourism.
"There is currently only limited opportunity for public participation . . . and therefore public awareness of the issues is limited," the An Taisce/Mayo County Council document says. At the same time, it also notes that new local government structures will "broaden the participatory framework" and allow greater opportunity for input from "a wider cross-section of community views".
Recently, the Labour Party sparked off something of a debate on the issue when it published a discussion paper on spatial planning. A proposal to exclude all new developments within one kilometre of the shoreline outside urban areas elicited a reaction from the then Minister of State for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Eamon O Cuiv, who said it displayed "a total lack of understanding" by Labour of "the traditional settlement patterns in a lot of coastal communities, particularly on the west coast of Ireland".
In response, Labour's environment spokesman, Eamon Gilmore, said that the Minister of State had misrepresented the proposals in the discussion document - and he accepted the Minister of State's challenge to come to Galway and debate publicly the issues in question. In the interim O Cuiv has been moved to another junior ministry - agriculture, with responsibility for rural development.