Green Blog
14 September 2011
Planning lessons from the Emerald Isle
Ireland - an Emerald Isle of lush countryside, spectacularly rugged coastal wilderness and the home of Guinness - Dublin.
Yet recent changes to the city serve as a warning of what happens when developers are allowed to run riot - with serious consequences both for the environment and for local communities.
I travelled to Ireland last week on holiday to tour the country's breathtakingly beautiful Western coastline - but couldn't help being struck by the rampant sprawl which seems to have enveloped Dublin.
I was shocked to discover, stumbling across an article from a few years ago, that Dublin now covers the same amount of space as Berlin - despite housing just a third of the number of people.
The city is sprawling westwards at an astonishing rate. In the east, on the site of the city's disused docklands, huge new apartment buildings and office blocks stand half completed.
A reputed 300,000 new build houses stand empty across the country.
A property boom was the major driver - but lax planning laws played a significant role, too.
With all the news about the Government's shake-up of planning laws here in the UK - mooted to be the biggest in 60 years - it made me wonder if Ireland's fate was a taste of things to come here.
The Government's plans could lead to disastrous and short-sighted development, rather than the kind of planning system we really need - one that protects our natural environment, provides more affordable and decent homes and kick-starts investment in new green industries.
The consequences of getting it wrong are stark - and just across the Irish Sea.
There's still time to tell the Government the changes we need to see to the planning system - you can make your voice heard here.
Henry Rummins, Communications & Media Team
© William Murphy
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