07.28.08
‘Tara Landscape Protections Are Token Gesture, Like Using a Band-Aid to Fix A Broken Nose’
IRISH TIMES – Protection Plan to be piloted in Tara valley
HERITAGE COUNCIL PRESS RELEASE
Pilot Project Announced for Tara Skryne Landscape to Enable Better Planning Decisions and Management of the Countryside
Date: Sun, 27 Jul 2008
The Heritage Council has announced funding for a pilot project designed to significantly improve the way we manage and plan for development and economic growth in the countryside.
The pilot project will be carried out in the Tara Skryne landscape in Co. Meath by the Heritage Council in conjunction with Meath County Council. It aims to provide a framework for better planning decisions in the future as well as safeguard the environment, quality of life and the heritage aspects of one of the most important and controversial landscapes in the country. As part of the project, a landscape management plan will be developed and agreed with the local community and key stakeholders on how the landscape that they live, work or enjoy leisure activity in is developed and managed. It will also progress the Meath County Development Plan objective to designate a Landscape Conservation Area.
Announcing the approval of a budget of 25,000 euro from the Heritage Council to get the project started this year, Michael Starrett, Chief Executive of the Council said “Last year the Government announced that it is committed to developing a National Landscape Strategy. This is a further step in making that happen. The Heritage Council has been actively promoting the introduction of Landscape Management Plans for many years and we are particularly pleased that John Gormley T.D., Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is supporting this plan and is committed to the introduction of a Landscape Management Strategy. Landscape management is about accommodating change and development. It provides a much more holistic approach than the current model to planning how we manage and develop the landscape where we live. It enables local communities to play an essential role in the managing their own area and has been very successful when introduced in other European countries. This project is about finding a successful model that can be applied to special landscapes across the country and I am particularly pleased that the first test project is located in the Tara Skryne landscape. Another pilot is planned for the Burren and we hope to make an announcement of the commencement of that project in the near future”.
Michael Starrett continued. “With or without the new motorway, the Tara Skryne landscape is very special and it deserves special attention to ensure that future decisions and changes are made using the best tools available. People have conflicting interests and views on how the land we inhabit is used. All views are equally valid and this project is designed to bring conflicting views and interests together, along with planning and environmental legislation, and agree a plan for the landscape going forward that resolves conflicting interests or allows them to exist in a way that brings economic social and environmental benefits for landowners, residents and visitors alike. This is a challenging and potentially very rewarding project. It is the first time it has been tried in Ireland and we want all stakeholders with an interest in this landscape to take part in the development of this plan. Further announcements will be made in the autumn when the public consultation phase commences and we look forward to and welcome extensive public participation and debate in the development of this plan”.
Commenting on the announcement of the Heritage Council funding for the project, Meath County Manager, Tom Dowling said. “We are looking forward to working with the Heritage Council on this project and progressing the policy in the County Development Plan”.
Last year, separate studies carried out by the Heritage Council and Failte Ireland found that there was an urgent need to provide clear guidelines on land use for amenity, heritage, tourism, housing and infrastructure development and other uses. The studies found that Ireland is now the only country in Western Europe that has not specifically legislated for the planning, management and conservation of its landscapes on a consistent national level. This view is supported by recent European Environment Agency digital mapping which shows that Ireland has experienced unprecedented urbanisation and landscape fragmentation over the past number of years due to extensive new housing, major road and other infrastructure projects. This has affected open countryside, villages and towns in all parts of the country and the extent of the impact on the landscape is greater than in other parts of Europe. Most importantly it is having detrimental effects on our overall quality of life, on the water we drink and the air that we breathe.
Work on the Tara Skryne Landscape Management Plan will commence this autumn. The initial stage of the project is expected to be completed within 18-24 months. It will build on the existing landscape characterisation map for the area and examines current and potential land use and develop a plan for the area led by the local authority in conjunction with the local community. The Heritage Council and Meath County Council will initially provide funding for the project. Addition funding is expected from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government next year. The cost of project is expected to be in the region of 125,000 euro.
Read TaraWatch statement below
PRESS RELEASE – TARAWATCH.org -Monday, 28 July 2008
Tara Landscape Protections Are Token Gesture, ‘Like Using a Band-Aid to Fix A Broken Nose’
While TaraWatch welcomes the efforts of the Heritage Council, to create a Tara Skryne Landscape Managment Plan, we deeply regret that the Department of the Environment and Meath County Council have waited six years before adopting their recommendations. As such, the plan is a mere token gesture towards preservation, and balanced development.
Michael Starrett, Chairman of the Heritage Council is right to note in the official press release release (below) that “The Heritage Council has been actively promoting the introduction of Landscape Management Plans for many years.” The Heritage Council recommended in 2002 that a national programme of Landscape Characterisation be undertaken. Draft guidelines prepared by the Department of Environment on landscape characterisation, which would have prevented this entire controversy, have been in circulation since 2000, and are only now being implemented.
The essentials of this Tara Management Plan were urged by Chairman of the Heritage Council, Michael Starrett, at the Oireachtas Environment Committee in 2004, long before the public-private partnership contract for the M3 was signed, and the decision to build the M3 in the middle of the landscape could have been easily altered. In his presentation he stated:
“It is obvious that during the road design process consideration was given to Tara and cultural heritage. However, given the international significance of Tara it is a matter of debate if sufficient weighting was placed upon heritage in the matrix of criteria used to inform the decision making process. Survey work in 2004 undertaken by Landsdowne Market Research, on behalf of the Heritage Council, has identified a distinct shift in public attitude towards increased heritage protection and the levels of awareness of its importance to all income groups and nationwide. The survey can be benchmarked against a similar survey carried out in 1999. This is a shift in public attitudes we may all do well to heed and it may well be asked if we are handing Tara on to future generations in a better condition than we inherited it.”
Furthermore, many of the self-same protections were already written into the two previous Meath County Development Plans, and never enforced by Meath County Council.
In light of the fact that planning decisions, which will impact national monuments such as Tara, are still being left to local authorities, we reject the plan as representing the fulfilment of the duties of the Minister for the Environmnet, Heritage and Local Government to protect the national heritage.
TaraWatch calls on the Minister for the Environment, to immediately review all options which would provide for a re-routing of the M3 and place a set of statutory-based protections, found in the National Monuments Acts, on the Tara Landscape.
Vincent Salafia of TaraWatch said:
“These limited protections only confirm the fact that the M3 should never have been built in this landscape in the first place. It’s like using a band-aid to fix a broken nose.
“The Heritage Council proposed landscape protection measures six years ago in 2002, before the M3 was approved in 2003 and they were ignored until now.
“The M3 toll road should be re-routed or scrapped, and the Tara section should become a heritage trail, which would be much more profitable and give some real protections to the most important landscape in Ireland.
ENDS
Contact – Laura Grealish 087-972-8603 / Vincent Salafia 087-132-3365 info@tarawatch.org