Paudge Connolly (Cavan-Monaghan, Independent)

I wish to share time with Deputy Cowley. I welcome this Bill. There has been widespread support for business improvement districts, BIDs, since their emergence in the late 1960s or early 1970s in Toronto. BIDs are essentially public private partnerships, to which we have become accustomed, in which property and business owners of a defined area decide to make a collective contribution to the maintenance, development, marketing and promotion of their commercial district. The idea is similar to the promotion of a suburban shopping centre or mall, for which tenants must pay a maintenance fee. Chambers of commerce have also come together to promote themselves and it is a very effective way of doing business. I recall a supermarket being granted planning permission to open beside a small shop, prompting many objections from the small shop owner, fearing her business would be wiped out. Eventually, she had to take on three or four more employees because of the increase in her trade. There can be a fantastic spin-off for individuals if they approach such developments in the right way and realise there is strength in numbers.

In the coming decade business improvement districts will develop more partnerships with residents and, in doing so, show more concern for open public space and community projects. I, Deputy Crawford and the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture and Food, Deputy Brendan Smith, attended a meeting in Virginia last night at which bad planning and the failure to demonstrate joined-up thinking were discussed. One such example was of a primary school whose services had become quite inadequate. Planners had been happy to grant permissions, builders to build and people to move into the neighbourhood but the education of children had not been catered for. The speakers also decried departments being separated from each other.

We need people to come together and be responsible for their own planning issues. The people of Bailieborough should have been brought into the loop by councillors, or by us in this House, and told about the planning process, the implications of planning permission to build houses and the greater importance of schools in that equation.

In many cities across the United States, business improvement districts have brought new economic opportunities and revitalisation strategies to run-down areas. Central government cannot achieve that so people must accept some responsibility for their own area and take a degree of ownership. In another example in Monaghan, the Mullaghmatt housing estate was built some time ago. The council then let the houses to people but did not properly maintain them. Now people are trying to take ownership of the scheme. They should get some Government assistance as they are meeting with many objections and not being adequately supported. I ask the Minister to give ownership to these people because, in the long term, the Government will receive a greater dividend by supporting and encouraging such local developments and it would involve a relatively small amount of money.

Business improvement districts provide an opportunity for co-operation, not only between the public and private sectors but also with planners, by bringing together various interest groups who share common goals. There are many diverse interest groups and the idea of business improvement districts offers the opportunity to pull people together.

In the coming century initiating and fostering these partnerships among community groups may be one of the most important roles of urban planners. Urban planners must start to think outside the box and include people. The people on the housing scheme to which I referred do not believe that they are in the loop. There are similar schemes in Muirhevnamore etc. It is a matter of pulling people in and giving them a voice, be it unofficial or whatever. They may not need to be elected representatives of the public, but while they do not necessarily go forward for public election, they are the voice of the people.

See this speech in context