The National Spatial Strategy will lead directly to the decline of most towns and nearly all villages in rural Ireland, says Mr Michael Smith, chairman of An Taisce, in a paper he will deliver today to a conference of county councillors. The conference is organised by the General Council of County Councils in Nenagh, Co Tipperary.
Under the Government's spatial strategy, published last November to act as a framework for development, places that are not growth centres, of which there are too many, will decline, and those that are growth centres will not grow enough to develop the critical mass to counter Dublin, says Mr Smith.
An Taisce has proposed replacing the 17 gateways with a maximum of eight geographically spread inter-regional centres in a discussion paper on an alternative spatial strategy.
The alternative gateways would include the high-quality development of Cork, Galway and Waterford, a growth centre in the north west in either Letterkenny, Sligo and Derry, and three further towns - Tipperary, Portarlington and Claremorris - already served by rail transport.
The Government's spatial strategy had pandered to electoral populism suggesting "a lack of will to restrict anything much, even growth of Greater Dublin".
"Whether a particular so-called growth centre grows will be determined, not by plans which say they'll all grow, but by landowners. This serves a developers' agenda, not the common good, making losers of us all," Mr Smith will say.
An Taisce's alternative spatial strategy would demand that development must be to the highest possible quality standards "and be community-led rather than developer-led", says Smith.
Mr Smith warned that the Government's strategy will not curb the growth of Greater Dublin. In its alternative strategy, An Taisce is to suggest a shift in population away from Dublin and its hinterland. The Greater Dublin area should accept no more than 25 per cent of future population growth.