THE Minister for the Environment, Mr Howlin, is expected to come under intense pressure to exercise his powers under the Planning Acts to reverse an unprecedented spate of land rezoning in Co Kildare, if the county council eventually decides to ignore public pressure to rescind its controversial decisions.
For the past few months, area committees of Kildare County Council have been meeting in private to consider amendments to the development plans for Maynooth, Kilcock and Clane. And if the full council confirms their decisions, north Kildare is set for a population explosion.
Ten years ago a highly contentious "settlement strategy" prepared by the now defunct Eastern Regional Development Organisation (ERDO) envisaged a major expansion of the area's population. However, although this strategy was officially abandoned, it is now in danger of being at least partially realised by haphazard land rezoning.
"On a proportional basis, what's happening in north Kildare now is much worse than what happened in Co Dublin in 1993," said one source. It also has enormous implications for the capital, given that the areas involved are effectively outlying dormitory suburbs of Dublin, generating more and more city bound commuter traffic.
As in Co Dublin, the latest round of land rezoning in Kildare has been promoted by a coalition of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael councillors who seem to equate development with "progress". In general, Labour councillors have opposed their decisions on planning grounds, as have Democratic Left and Green Party representatives.
The pro-rezoning councillors have claimed public opposition is motivated by the NIMBY syndrome.
One of them, Mr Sean Reilly (FG), told the Leinster Leader that people had a right to decide where they wanted to live. Another, Mr P.J. Sheridan (FF), said he would not be intimidated by a Labour Party "road show".
This interpretation is angrily rejected by residents of Maynooth, Kilcock and Clane who fear their communities would be "swamped" by suburban development if the rezonings are confirmed. They have been gathering petitions and submitting well argued documents in the hope of persuading the councillors to change their minds.
In most cases, the rezoning decisions have been opposed by Kildare County Council's planners, not only on the grounds that they are irrational and unwarranted but also because they would generate a demand for the provision of additional public services such as water and sewerage as well as a requirement for more schools.
The minutes of the county council's Clane Area Committee give a flavour of what has been happening. After hearing a submission from one of the landowners, the county planner, Mr Philip Jones, made it clear he "strongly opposed" the proposed rezoning, because it had "no planning logic and was "entirely unsuitable for development."
The landowner, Mr Patrick Fadden, was accompanied by an architect, Mr Paul Mealy. "Following their departure," the minutes record, "it was RESOLVED that Mr Fadden's land be zoned as residential to a maximum of six houses per acre, except for 4.5 acres to be zoned for amenity purposes in the centre and a section along the river bank."
In another case, involving five acres of land owned by a family called McKenna, Mr Jones advised that council officials were "completely against" its rezoning as the site was too far away from the village and there were no foot paths or public lighting." But the councillors, with one abstention, went ahead and rezoned it.
The Minister for the Environment is on record as saying irresponsible land rezoning is "undermining public confidence in our planning system."
In a speech last March he said he wanted to make it "absolutely clear" he would not be influenced by "maverick rezoning" in determining priorities for the allocation of funding for infrastructural services.
Yet Mr Howlin, like all of his predecessors, has shown a marked reluctance to use his powers under Section 22 of the 1963 Planning Act, which would permit him to "vary" the county plan and rescind the more blatant rezonings as he has repeatedly been urged to do by residents of Johnstown, Co Kildare.
Last year, accompanied by Mr Emmet Stagg, the local Labour TD and Minister of State for Energy, a deputation from Johnstown Residents' Association met Mr Howlin. They pressed him to overturn a major land rezoning decision by the county council which, if acted on, would result in a 10 fold increase in the population of their village.
However, it is believed he is being advised by his senior officials that any resort to Section 22 runs the risk of opening a Pandora's Box. Though he would become the first Minister in 33 years to rescind a land rezoning decision, their fear is that a future holder of the office might use the same power to rezone land which had not been zoned.
While Mr Howlin wrestles with this quandary, Co Kildare residents fear their environment is being heedlessly sacrificed.
The developers have moved into this town, taken over every green space, levelled the hedges and cut down the trees, said Mrs Kathleen Benson of Naas. "Soon, there will be no bird song heard around here."
