Deirdre Clune (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

Like Deputy Fleming, I will be bringing my own experiences to speaking on this Bill. His contribution was coloured by his upbringing in Laois and by living in a small rural area. As a member of Cork City Council for nine years and also dealing with Cork County Council, I suppose I bring much of that experience to bear on this debate. The breadth of issues with which I would be dealing stretch from rural scenic areas to urban areas.

Interestingly, in Cork City Council's housing strategy, 20% of housing would be social and affordable housing. It is a demanding issue for members of the council and for the housing authority, particularly when one considers that the city has quite a small area and there is a high demand for housing, as there is in all cities because people naturally gravitate towards the services.

I welcome much of this Bill. It is important that it ties in the national spatial strategy and the regional planning guidelines to the development plans and, in turn, to the local area plans. The network has always been there but it is important that adherence to the various guidelines would be reflected right through to the development plan.

As a member of Cork City Council, I was involved in making a number of development plans. They are demanding. The local representatives have a substantial input. They are the people living in the area who can bring the needs of the communities to the table. I would never reject or ignore that input. It is extremely important and should always be protected. It is the essence of our democratic system.

However, in my experience there is a case to be made for supporting councillors in their work, particularly when they are dealing with the development plan, by providing independent planning advice to councillors. The councillors are presented with the development plan by the planners and the management of the local authority and councillors should be given independent support in putting forward their views.

The development plans in which I was involved reflected national planning guidelines. I do not think I was ever involved in a rezoning motion - maybe I was fortunate that there was not much land to be rezoned. It is important that rezoning should be taken seriously. I am inclined to agree with the proposal that no rezoning should be implemented unless it has the support of two thirds of the council. It is difficult to get two thirds of a council to vote in favour of a motion. To get such an outcome would deserve much attention and persuasion on behalf of those who proposed the motion. It is a good development. Others, probably even those in my party who have spoken, would not agree with that, but planning is so important in how we develop our areas that such motions should be put to the test and the bar should be set high in any changes that any local authority or local member should propose to make.

The national spatial strategy is in place. The debate here is about councillors trying to overturn decisions locally but on the other hand, there was the decentralisation proposal in a recent budget which paid no attention to spatial planning or national development plans. Under the decentralisation programme, Government bodies and Departments were allocated to areas that did not reflect the objectives of the national spatial strategy.

The national spatial strategy has been spread too thin. As a small island with a small population we cannot develop hubs and gateways everywhere at once, so we must prioritise. We need to examine our regional development and how we will move forward in that respect. I recognise, as the previous speaker said, that people will continue to migrate to cities. Trains coming in and out of Dublin at weekends are packed with young people who are working in the capital. Many people have settled in Cork city from Limerick, Clare, Tipperary, Waterford and Kerry. Cities attract a young migrant population because that is where the jobs, services and quality of life are.

Following the last review of Dáil constituency boundaries, Cork city and county lost a seat which went to the east. Seats were also lost in Limerick and Kerry, which also went to the east. No matter how often we produce plans to resettle population, such as the national spatial strategy, people will still migrate. This is reflected in recent changes in the allocation of Dáil seats, which went eastwards in line with population movements.

The National Competitiveness Council recently produced an excellent report. All the NCC's reports should be debated in this Chamber, but I wonder if they receive the attention they deserve. The most recent one was on prioritising our cities, which is critical for sustainable economic growth. We need to prioritise investment in our main cities to enhance long-term competitiveness. The report referred to the need for key planning decisions to be made by strong leadership with responsibility for providing a co-ordinated approach to issues faced by greater urban areas. That reflects the point that local people - those in leadership positions in their own communities - have better knowledge of how to develop such areas in future. That includes improving the urban land use and planning policy, which was recommended in the report. It also identified the need for higher residential density in cities. Density is an issue as our cities change and older three-bedroom semi-detached houses no longer serve the needs of communities. People want to live near services, so density is important in that respect.

When I visited New York, I was struck by how many millions of people were living on an island as small as Manhattan. Given that so many million people are living there, they have the services and quality of life, but a balance must be struck.

The refusal of planning permission in cases of previously unauthorised development is an old chestnut for all of us who have been involved in local authorities. A developer might obtain planning permission but then walks away, leaving a development half finished. The houses may be there, but the services are not in place, yet such a developer can get planning permission to start work again in another area. There should be a facility for local authorities to clamp down on such people.

The provision for extending planning permission for five years on the basis of commercial, economic or technical reasons is important, particularly in light of our current economic position. People may have obtained planning permissions but are not in a position to develop them, so a facility to extend them would be important.

Taking charge of housing estates is another bugbear with local communities. The Bill contains a provision to move that forward so that property owners can vote to ensure that a housing estate is taken in charge.

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