New Dublin transport body to have key role

Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey: Dublin Transport Authority to be set up shortly.
Photograph: The Irish Times

Major projects may be blocked if developers, councils fail to provide proper transport services

Large-scale developments, including housing, in Dublin and surrounding areas could be blocked unless local authorities and developers provide adequate transport services, under plans being finalised by Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey.

The Minister expects to publish legislation "within weeks" to set up the long-awaited Dublin Transport Authority, which was first mooted by one of his predecessors, Mary O'Rourke, in 2000.

Under the legislation, which has been significantly reworked since Mr Dempsey took over the department after the last election, the new authority will have far greater powers over planning decisions taken by local councils than first envisaged.

Local authorities within Dublin, in Kildare, Meath and Wicklow will have to show that planning zonings are backed by "suitable transport plans" for the areas concerned, or else risk rejection.

"Local authorities will have to show that they have committed specific transport investment for the period of the local plan," one source with knowledge of the legislation's drafting told The Irish Times.

Local authorities unhappy with a transport decision by the authority can appeal to the Minister for Transport or to the Minister for the Environment in a dispute about regional planning guidelines.

The decision to give the State greater powers over development that generates heavy traffic flows comes amidst increasing concern about poor planning decisions in the past, and Ireland's ever-larger carbon dioxide emissions from daily commuting.

Once created, the Dublin Transport Authority will have overarching command of public transport services in the region, particularly to co-ordinate different types of services, to manage traffic on some of the country's busiest routes and take control of plans to create a single public transport ticket.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times