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John
Fitzgerald, Dublin City Manager
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Growing
the Population Stopping the Sprawl (Page 1)
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| "In
European terms, Ireland has a relatively low rate of urbanisation
and lies outside of the heavy concentration of urban centres
in England, Belgium, the Netherlands and Western Germany. Whilst
Dublin is a European capital city, it is of relatively modest
size, having less than half the population of Birmingham or
Manchester, less than a third that of Milan and less than a
quarter that of Madrid. Dublin is much larger than any other
urban centre in Ireland and dominates the economic and social
life of the country to an overwhelming degree. In 1996, the
Dublin Metropolitan Area had 31% of the national population"
(National Spatial Strategy) |
| The
current National Spatial Strategy is timely and welcome but
may run into difficulty in terms of identifying alternative
gateways or growth areas outside Dublin. We have quite a distance
to go before reaching that stage. |
| The
draft National Spatial Strategy identifies twelve "functional
areas" which have emerged over the years not as a result of
public sector planning but, rather, through action of market
forces with the exception of the Eastern Region these functional
areas are not generally coterminous with existing administrative
boundaries. |
| Development
of Greater Dublin |
| In
the meantime, the Greater Dublin Area (including the three new
Dublin Counties and Kildare, Meath and Wicklow) has emerged
as the viable planning unit for land use and transportation.
Strategic Planning Guidelines have been prepared for this area
and the Dublin Transportation Office remit has been extended
accordingly. |
| Policy
underlying the Strategic Planning Guidelines is consolidation
of the built up area and development of economically independent
growth nodes outside. The Dublin Skyline Study strengthens this
objective, as do the about-to-be published Retail Planning Guidelines.
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| Is
there an optimum size for a city like Dublin; is there an optimum
size for a nation like Ireland? |
| I
don't believe Dublin will double in size or should do so. We
have had many reports which create the impression that expansion
is out of control including the recent central statistics office
report. I don't agree. We expect to increase population in the
Greater Dublin Area, (which is the only planning context that
makes sense) to 1.75m by 2011. This is manageable and not excessively
large. |
| It
is true that population density in the West of Ireland and other
parts is far too low and needs to be strengthened to sustain
local energy ideally in the form of well serviced village type
communities indigenous to their areas. That is one of the objectives
of the National Spatial Strategy. Much has been made of the
18,000 "one-off" houses built last year. There is some doubt
about the validity of this definition and in any event, nothing
should inhibit rural development for indigenous rural use. |
| Developing
rural Ireland as a temporary habitat for weekend and summer
residents is not the answer. However, severe restriction on
new development including one-off houses is a very sensitive
and emotive issue which is probably best handled by local planning
management who know and understand the local issues involved.
External sledgehammer tactics are misunderstood and greatly
resented. |
| The
most difficult problem is in, and immediately around the Greater
Dublin Area eg. towns like Kinnegad, Kilcock and Rochfordbridge
that have become part of the commuter belt. The only solution
to this is provision of enough affordable housing within the
city by increasing densities (and to some extent heights) within
the area of consolidation. The old days of semi-detached sprawling
suburban development within the built-up area are gone forever.
For example the future must be high density developments like
Pelletstown, Mulhuddart, and Cherry Orchard. We have to make
the culture shift from low density almost rural type housing
to modern European city standards with a population base to
justify extensive (and expensive) public transport provision.
There is no other answer though there is much resistance. |
| Housing
estates on existing models were provided for large families;
we now have average household size of three persons, which is
expected to fall even further over the next decade. This is
one of the most significant demographic changes that has occurred.
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| We
cannot blame those who need houses for going where houses can
be afforded. It is not their fault. The challenge for all of
us including government and the building industry is; how do
we arrive at the situation where the flow of accommodation units
matches need over a sustained period and becomes less sensitive
to the complex ingredients that unbalance the supply/demand
ratio. Supply is now dropping dramatically; the numbers who
need houses are not. The job is to increase supply to what we
want at affordable prices where we want it; is there a solution
to this long-standing problem? |
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