Greystones Harbour Deception

wicklow | eu | news report Wednesday February 20, 2008 22:16 by Concerned Citizens Action Committee - The Concerned Ctizens Action Committee

Greystones Harbour Corruption

The giveaway of a public beach to developers while 6,000 objections ignored. Here corruption is exposed. Most people however get to confused to understand the corruption but do not be fooled. None of the usual 'campaigners' bothered to fight this corruption and when delegates from our group went to a public meeting in Co.Dublin and brought up what is happening in Greystones,they were not bothered listening.

STATEMENT ON GREYSTONES NORTH BEACH
HARBOUR DEVELOPMENT & ITS FORESHORE

Thank you for giving us the opportunity in voicing the opposition to this scandal which is taking place before our very eyes in our coastal town of Greystones County Wicklow which always had a beautiful coastline and beach which the citizens of Greystones were proud of and now we are being subjected to our coastline and beach being ripped apart by mechanical diggers to make way for 341 residential units to be built out on our public foreshore which is a scandal in itself. We all agree that Greystones Harbour badly needed to be fixed up and refurbished with a proper Harbour and Marina for the general public which was in the original Plan for Greystones dated back to 1999.

This plan did not suit the developers so the public representatives changed all this in 2003 behind closed doors in Wicklow County Council and did not inform the people of Greystones and Delgany. Being a public representative yourself it is the duty of that elected member to keep the people informed at all times of what is going on in the community. We rely on them as our public representatives to put things right on the Council if they see something untoward going on.

It appears however that there is no opposition whatsoever when the vote is going one way all the time in favour of the developers and speculators and not for the people of the community. Planning Permissions and Re-zonings are being voted through and granted with impunity where the objections of the people have no legal standing and are just a mere obstruction in the eyes of the County Managers and their unelected officials who appear to have more power and say within the Local Authorities than the elected body themselves. Is this a democratic system when it has become a very dangerous situation when one man has this kind of power and control which is leaving the door open for corruption to prevail which has happened in the past.

We feel as a community that local democracy is gone and that the power of money has taken its place when 6,000 objections from the people of Greystones and Delgany have fallen on the deaf ears in relation to this agency An Bord Pleanala granting planning permission for the destruction of our public beach and foreshore under public private partnership and using an outdated law the Compulsory Purchase Order which they have used for taking over our public beach in which they have cornered off the whole area with builders hoarding by closing off public access to the beach which has now become a building site.

We as Irish citizens and members of Europe strongly object as to the way our beach and our democratic rights as Irish citizens are being ignored by the Irish State when we know that the north beach Greystones is protected under the Wicklow County Development Plan 2004-2010 when it was made into planning legislation in January 2004. It needs to be made clear that the local area plan for Greystones dated back to 1999 was the original plan for Greystones and Delgany and was used by the planners in making planning decisions up to the year 2003. The 1999 Greystones Delgany Development Plan protected the foreshore and its beach which is built in to the Wicklow County Development Plan as far back as 1999 and as stated was made into planning law in 2004 which An Bord Pleanala based their findings on this plan in the granting of Planning Permission. Serious questions now need to be asked of An Bord Pleanala as to why they granted permission when the local area plan for 2006 is outside the remit of the County Development Plan.

Planning Permission most certainly should not have been granted when An Bord Pleanala have based their findings on the Wicklow County Development Plan 2004-2010 which is in direct contravention of the Plan.

As a community we are making a formal complaint to the Petitions Committee for Europe that our objections had no voice which was completely ignored by An Bord Pleanala and Wicklow County Council in which democracy was subverted by them.

The 2 oral hearings which An Bord Pleanala held in relation to this serious matter was more like an arbitration hearing where the Inspector for the Board was there to trash out a deal in relation to compensation when a Valuer was brought in. Why was this? The first morning of the oral hearing a lot of people took time off work to attend the hearing but were treated like dirt by the Inspector who was a very arrogant and rude man and was designed in such a way to stop people in voicing their opinion when he informed them that this was not a public meeting. He did not explain to the people the format of the hearing. As a direct result of this the people stopped attending and the proceedings of the hearing continued with a small group of people on the No side calling themselves The Greystones Protection Development Association it was left in their hands where the majority of people in Greystones were left on the outside looking in at all of this. Why was there a need in holding 2 oral hearings when An Bord Pleana knew the majority of people in Greystones were opposed to this. We are calling for a public enquiry into An Bord Pleanala who are granting Planning Permissions with impunity where they are ignoring the objections and will of the people. It is a terrible endictment on the State when communities like Greystones and the combined Resident Associations in Sandymount have to appeal this kind of thing through the Irish Courts and have to make a formal complaint to a Member of the European Parliament sitting on the Petitions Committee when an Agency like An Bord Pleanala and Local Government has failed the people.

We would appeal to the Petitions Committee for Europe to take this Statement to the higher powers of the Parliament and make it known that local democracy does not exist in the 26 counties of Ireland when the likes of this is allowed to take place over the objections of 6000 of its people. We would like the decision on our beach to be reversed and give back what belongs to the people of Ireland.
Thanking you for taking the time and reading this Statement. Looking forward to a favourable reply. The citizens of Greystones, County Wicklow.
All of the plans can be viewed in the Library in Greystones (that's if you manage to get them off the staff....)
Alternatively we can email you the maps, contact us at fightingcorruptioninwicklow@hotmail.com