THE Minister for the Environment is coming under renewed pressure to exercise his powers under the Planning Acts to reverse the current spate of land rezoning by Kildare County Council.
Anti-rezoning groups from Clane, Kilcock, Leixlip, Maynooth and Celbridge, who have formed the North Kildare Alliance for Better Planning, are meeting next week to decide on their strategy.
This follows a controversial decision by the county council last Monday to confirm a series of major rezonings in the Clane area which were strongly opposed by a large majority of local residents.
In what observers saw as a straight "right-left" division on the issue, Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, PD and Independent councillors voted in favour, with Labour Democratic Left and Green members voting against.
"What's happening in north Kildare is absolutely scandalous", said Mr Emmet Stagg the local Labour TD and Minister of State. "Now that the council has made its decision on Clane, I will be asking Brendan Howlin to intervene."
Still to come are council votes on another series of major rezonings in Kilcock and Maynooth where, according to Mr Mike Parle of the Alliance for Better Planning, people are "terrified" about what might happen to their towns.
"There's a lot of anger out there", he said. "People are wondering who the councillors represent - the people who elected them or the narrow interests of the land and property-owning classes who have a voracious appetite for rezoning.
"We've done a projection that, if all the rezonings are confirmed and the lands are developed for housing, the population of north Kildare could increase from 45,000 to 100,000, and the water, sewerage and roads in this area can't take that", he said.
Mr Parle, who lives in Leixlip said there was "a sense of deja vu" about the Clane rezonings, because "the same thing happened to us two years ago" when the council voted to rezone more land around Leixlip, against the advice of county planners.
"One option would be to get the Minister to exercise his hitherto unused powers under the 1963 Planning Act to rescind the latest rezonings", he said. "The Clane action group has also sought legal advice to see if the decisions can be fought through the courts".
Mr Parle said the pro-rezoning councillors were showing no leadership or vision. "If another high-tech company decided to locate in this area, how are they going to cater for it with water and sewerage, because so much will be taken up by housing?"
He complained about the lack of response of Ms Mary Harney, leader of the Progressive Democrats, to local representations. "It would seem that anything the left-wing parties are in favour of will be voted down by the others."
The Minister is on record as saying that his Department would not provide funding for infrastructure to serve lands which had been "irresponsibly" rezoned. However, he has shown no willingness so far to use his powers to rescind such rezoning decisions.
