Vol. 436 No. 4
38 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for the Environment his response to the consideration by Dublin County Council of its draft development plan; if he will use the powers available to him to reverse rezoning decisions made by the Council which cannot be justified on planning grounds; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I understand that Dublin County Council has completed its examination of, and voted on, the detail of the draft development plan, the amendments and material alterations. All that remains now is the formal adoption of the plan.
My views on rezoning in County Dublin are a matter of public record. I understand that in their more recent consideration of the development plan, the council have scaled back on the extent of the extra zonings earlier proposed but I will obviously have to reserve my position on the matter until I and my Department have had an opportunity of studying the plan as finally adopted.
The adoption of a development plan has always been the preserve of the elected local councils. The law provides for open and extensive consultation with the public before the council adopts the plan. This is as it should be, because local councils and the public they represent are in a better position than central Government to form judgments on the details of land use policy for their areas. Accordingly, while there are limited powers of intervention open to me, I would be extremely slow to use them to overturn decisions of this kind arrived at at local level. The whole thrust of my policies on local government has been to devolve greater responsibilities on local authorities. Besides, I would be very reluctant to intiate a course of action which could lead to the involvement of a Minister for the Environment, for the first time since 1977, in specific local planning decisions.
