PLANNING AND THE CONSTITUTION

Sir, - In its final report to the Government, the Constitution Review Group emphasises that private property rights carry with…

Sir, - In its final report to the Government, the Constitution Review Group emphasises that private property rights carry with them duties and responsibilities and that such rights should not be allowed to be exercised in an unregulated way, where they cause the overall well-being of the community to be damaged. This is only good sense and indeed the functioning of a civilised society depends on such a principle being accepted. No individual should be allowed to use his/her access to air or water or lands as they see fit, without regard for the wider community implications. Restrictions on personal liberties, as regards what individuals can drive, where they can build, what weapons they can carry, what fuels they can burn etc are ultimately restrictions which express a society's consensus as to what the balance between individual and community rights should be.

This consensus is clearly shifting in modern Ireland, where individuals such as farmers, car owners, industrialists etc, have become sensitised to the need for restrictions on their way of working in the interests of preserving environmental quality. We pay a little more for better fuels; we take care over what we discharge to the air or local river; we accept that we cannot do what we like with old buildings or forests.

It is to be regretted, however, that one group in society has not yet been brought into the late 20th century in terms of the "community good" principle. Landowners in urban fringe areas continue to see it as their God-given right to foist unwanted urban development on their local communities. With the co-operation of compliant local councillors, seemingly oblivious to the wishes of their (very occasional) electorate, huge profits are made by individuals and huge costs are borne by the surrounding community. Of course, urban expansion is often necessary and desirable, but equally it may be unnecessary, undesirable and frequently downright stupid.

We are presently seeing such a medieval performance in the rezoning pillage of the north Kildare towns. Specifically we will have seen on July 8th the little village of Clane - population 3,500 - expected to cope with a trebling of its population over the next few years, as proposed by its local councillors against the wishes both of over 90 per cent of its residents and the professional advice of Co Kildare planning officials. For Clane, just as for Kilcock, Maynooth and Celbridge, which will probably be sacrificed on the same altar in due course, ample undeveloped lands for an orderly expansion are already available. Under the present arrangements for politically-based Development Plans it would appear that the property rights of a handful of individuals are deemed more important than those of entire urban communities.

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It is essential that the proposed new article in the Constitution be used as a vehicle to bring the political aspects of Irish land use planning to a new level, one which emphasises more the community good and less the rights of individuals to make huge windfall gains overnight at the expense of society as a whole. Pending this, the good residents of Clane, and of the rest of north Kildare, have little option but to remember well who voted to ignore their wishes in the summer of 1996. - Yours, etc.,

North Kildare Alliance for Better Planning, Moyglare Road, Maynooth, Co Kildare.