Planning system designed to make you feel small
With good planning one would expect genuine consultation with the aim of arriving at the best possible outcome.
Contrast this with what we hear of people around Ireland today whose experience of the State planning system has been one of exclusion, dismissal, even ridicule.
Infrastructure is at stake. The issues are major and varied - superdumps, incinerators, gas lines, motorways, tolls, a super prison. The concerns are valid and serious - health, safety, environment, heritage, compulsory purchase orders.
We know we need infrastructure, but surely it is possible in a country of four million people to modernise without destroying. The notion of a competitive economy seems so all-consuming that those with power and corporate clout have become blind to anything they perceive as an obstacle to their project.
The consequences are that things that are precious to people get trampled upon while narrow solutions to problems are imposed. A prime example is the M3 toll road provided as the only solution to Co Meath’s traffic nightmare.
Where is the planning in that? A solution that will desecrate Ireland’s most important ancient landscape while at the same time guaranteeing to exacerbate Dublin’s gridlock, add to greenhouse gases, provide little or no relief to frustrated commuters, but will empty their pockets through tolls and dependence on ever more expensive petrol.
On the other hand, good inclusive planning would have taken up all these issues which were repeatedly highlighted by citizens and experts throughout the so-called ‘consultation process’ for the M3.
Good planning, which should always look at the big picture, would likely have come up with a comprehensive transport solution appropriate to the needs of the region, involving upgraded roads, bypasses, rapid rail and coach service - all this for approx. €835 million, or about the same cost as the M3 on its own.
Why are the State and its agents ignoring citizens who care and are courageous enough to involve themselves in the planning process. Not many get involved, but those who do end up feeling frustrated, angry, disempowered and isolated.
Who can be held accountable for this blatant breach of democracy?
These issues will be explored at a seminar at Dalgan Park, Navan, Co Meath, on October 8 at 1.30pm. It is entitled ‘Empowering the Citizen. Do you feel you have a voice?’
Claire Oakes
Bellinter
Navan
Co Meath
