Strong voice essential to guard environment

John Waters has once again missed the point about the role of An Taisce in the planning process, writes Gavin Harte.

John Waters has once again missed the point about the role of An Taisce in the planning process, writes Gavin Harte.

John Waters's annual research-free little rant about An Taisce (July 10th) misses the point, as usual. In it he accuses An Taisce of "usurping the democratic process" and having a "fundamental lack of perspective of what life is about". For a few years now I have had similar thoughts about Mr Waters and his fundamental understanding of life, but that is for another day.

The issue prompting Mr Waters's article related to our recent and sincere apology to Fintan O'Toole concerning some well-intentioned but inappropriate language used by our local Clare association in a planning submission to Clare County Council regarding a proposed extension of his property in Ballyvaughan.

It is unfortunate that John resorts to a childish and predictable slagging of the environmental agenda in his defence of unbridled development in Ireland.

READ MORE

His stereotyped description of An Taisce members as "a bunch of sandal-wearing hysterics" and "Dublin 4 snobs" who "bully people into silence" is comical. For the record, I am not a sandal-wearing hysteric - I hail from west Cork; our president, Eanna Ní Lamhna, is the least Dublin 4 person I've met; and the idea of bullying somebody into silence, I suggest, is something more appropriate to Mr Waters.

An Taisce has held a statutory role within the planning process since planning started in 1963. We are the only non-government organisation in Ireland to have this "prescribed" function, and under Article 28(1) of the Planning and Development Act 2001, we are referred planning applications that impact on areas of amenity, archaeological, architectural and geological heritage as well as areas of natural conservation. An Taisce has been requested by government to make comment on these planning applications and to highlight aspects of the development that may have negative impacts. This is a valuable function and an important element of the planning process and one for which An Taisce receives no support from government. Ultimately, however, this role is just a part of the overall planning process and final decisions rest with the local authorities and An Bord Pleanála in the event of an appeal.

An Taisce's primary concern in the planning process is sustainable development. There is now general consensus that human activity is having a seriously negative impact on our planetary life-support systems and that urgent action is needed if we are to remedy this situation. The Government, for its part, is a signatory to numerous international treaties that endorse sustainable development. These include the UN Conference on Environment and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, and the Amsterdam treaty, passed by referendum in 1998.

Sustainable development is at the root of both these agreements as they seek to integrate the social, economic and environmental dimensions of our society at a local, national, and international level. Sustainable development is currently defined as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs".

In his article, Mr Waters uses the very beautiful analogy of a "nest" when he describes the very real need people have for home and shelter. While this is an emotional image, it fails to grasp the complexity of planning and land use for the 21st century. The romantic notion that there is a "sacrosanct right" for a developer or individual to "build a nest of his own design", wherever he likes and without any consideration of its impact on the wider world, is simply absurd.

The nest is a beautiful and biodegradable structure, its impact on the environment is negligible and its purpose is specific; however, this cannot be said for the majority of human "nests". As we discover almost daily, the cumulative effect of our planning and development on the natural environment is having an enormous impact. Ireland is way above its internationally agreed CO2 emissions quota and there is little evidence of any downward trend. Fifty per cent of our freshwater is now polluted with faecal matter, directly linked to the built environment. Urban sprawl and traffic jams are a daily fact of life and our urban and rural housing is poorly designed, energy dependent and deficient in access to public transport and other services. In short, the built environment that we are now creating is the factor causing long-term sustainability and public health concerns that were recently highlighted by the Institute of Public Health in Ireland.

An Taisce, through its volunteer membership and with the limited resources available to it, is committed to promoting proper planning and sustainable development as a real alternative to our current practices. We do this in a number of ways. Our education unit runs the hugely successful "green schools" programme where nearly 60 per cent of all schools in the country are now making efforts to improve their environmental management. Our natural environment department among other things works to protect the natural beauty of this country by monitoring forestry, aquaculture and waste licensing and our property department holds in trust 13 beautiful examples of built and natural environment for the people of Ireland.

An Taisce has a long tradition of seeking to protect and preserve the "treasury" that is our natural built and cultural heritage; it has worked to protect these treasures since 1946. We seek to promote proper planning and sustainable development in both urban and rural areas. It is An Taisce's view that it is our patterns of unsustainable land use and bad planning that are damaging the environment and we will continue to highlight these facts.

John Waters (who lives in Dalkey!) often casually dismisses empirical ideas he disagrees with as "Dublin 4", yet all he seems to offer is confusion, contrariness and fawning over vested interests. And so, before he next calls An Taisce members chinless sandal-wearers, I suggest he might take a look in the mirror because underneath the hippyish beard that tops his articles all I can see is bitterness.

Rather than "blaming the messenger", I suggest Mr Waters examines his own perspective of what life is about, and hopefully he will realise Ireland needs a strong voice to protect our environment and the "nests" of future generations.

Gavin Harte is director of An Taisce