Batten down the hatches

The next few weeks aren't going to be easy.

The news from the exchequer isn't good, and my pal in Finance says there's more to come. He reckons it'll be 10% cuts all round by the end of the year in order to fill a six billion hole in the coffers. Stamp duty has flat-lined, corporation tax is down, construction receipts are a fraction of their former levels, and retail's looking shaky. Sure, there's still companies moving to Ireland, but you've got too distinguish between the brass plate operations and the operations that bring long term jobs and income to Ireland. Some of the new jobs will come from unusual places. Facebook is contemplating setting up operations here, and the new Irish Mind Series on CNBC is making a pitch to the United States on the added value of Irish education and upbringing on how we work. The massive expansion in access to third level in recent years is breathtaking, but there's concerns out there that quality could suffer as quantity of output increases. I heard rumours recently that they've brought in attendance rolls in some courses in UCD to keep tabs on whether people are making along to lectures that they're taking exams in.

Meanwhile the squeeze is on for various State agencies. Fine Gael's Leo Varadkar (not someone I'm always in agreement with!) brought out a report 'Streamlining Government' in April that has some reasonable suggestions for rationalising the plethora of semi-state bodies. Over the weekend Minister of State for Trade John McGuinness has been making waves with his thoughts on the public service. Some time ago I threw my hat into the ring with an article that you can find here. David Connolly from the Dublin Inner City Partnership didn't agree with some of what I said, and penned his response here.

Five years on I feel more strongly than ever that we need to give real power to local authorities, rather than spinning it off to external agencies, and I worry that we've reduced local government to an exercise in oversight, regulation and enforcement in so many areas. In other countries I suspect that enterprise, development and support to the unemployed are closer to the core competencies of local government than in Ireland.

Since the early nineties we have created a plethora of new bodies: County and City Enterprise boards that support the start-up & development of local business in Ireland; County and City Development Boards that are charged with bringing an integrated approach to the delivery of both State and local development services at local level; and Local Partnerships that respond to long-term unemployment and socioeconomic disadvantage.

Meanwhile within local authorities we've put in place Strategic Policy Committees that are supposed to assist the Council in the formulation, development and review of policy, yet so many of what should be core functions have been spun off. It is no wonder that so many councillors have resigned in recent years. I suspect many have become disenchanted with the rising tide of representations, a salary that fails to reflect the workload, and perhaps most of all a frustration at becoming increasingly distanced from key decision-making functions. I wouldn't abolish City and County Development Boards, Enterprise Boards and Partnerships, they all do good work but I would like to see their work more strongly tied into the heart of local government.

RAPID and CLÁR complicate matters even further. Again they provide a variety of useful funding in targetting graffiti, providing childcare and accessible transport, but perhaps these issues should be core competencies of local government rather than dispensed from on high? RAPID funds everything from estate management, traffic safety and measures that improve equality for women. The lead Department is Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs there and to be honest while I'm grateful for the emails that announce every details of Éamon Ó Cuív's latest disbursement of €1,050 to the North Mon Taekwan-do club in Cork, I'd be happier if the money came directly from the local Council. It has got to stage where you'd almost need a Masters in Community Development to start looking for a grant for traffic calming and that's not the way it ought to be. As a side-bar issue I'm also nervous about the designation of 'most disadvantaged' to particular communities, as it immediately begs the question 'are you in or are you out?'. A sliding scale might be more appropriate.

Proper financing for local government is a crucial issue. The current system whereby local authorities must go cap in hand to central government for any significant capital project is demeaning and over-centralised. The 2006 Indecon Review of Local Government Financing suggested that more financial autonomy could be beneficial, and the more recent Green Paper from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government "Stronger Local Government - Options for Change" referred to the this challenge. Apparently now though, we'll have to await the deliberations of the Commission on Taxation.

It is amazing how many people feel that the abolition of domestic rates back in 1977 was the nail in the coffin of independent local government. Its the only tax I know that people feel nostalgic about at the doosteps. As a fellah in the Liberties said to me many years ago, "If you didn't like what they were doing with your money you could go down to City Hall and give the councillors a piece of your mind".

Given that stamp duty on property exaggerates the cyclical nature of the property market, we might be better off abolishing it altogether and replacing it with an annual charge on residential property that reflects its floor area and the number of residents. This could allow people to move more easily to the type of property that best reflects their needs without penalising them for their decision to move. If your job was fifty miles away you could move there, and if children came along you could move again without attracting stamp duty that can hit between six and nine per cent each time you move property. It could cut down on commuting and allow people to live in homes that best reflects their needs at each stage of their lives. Certainly some alternative to the complexities of the current system would be welcome.

Meanwhile Philip Boucher-Hayes's Future Shock programme on the issue of water gave stark insight into how bad planning and a lack of capital funding has led to a run-down water supply system. I missed the original screening, and my Real Player jammed at the thirty minute mark, but I think I got the main thrust of it by the half-way mark. Again financing featured as an important issue. John Gormley has ruled out blanket water charges but I'd certainly feel if people are watering their half acre of lawn or wahing the car every week then they should pay some sort of charge for excessive useage. I'd hate to see a pipeline to the Shannon or Boyne just to ensure someone's 08D is sparkling, but perhaps we should be putting more attention into protecting and increasing the watersheds that we have in the vicinity of Dublin. Curiously enough, perhaps New York could be looked at as a city that has a decent tradition of managing their water resource.

It's not a great time to be talking about local government reform and financing when the purse-strings are tightening, but perhaps at a time of fiscal restraint we should be discussing what we really want our local councils and councillors to be engaged in doing on our behalf.

Spreading from the west...

'It is certainly a matter for regret that the climate of these northern regions makes it so uncomfortable to get wet and so difficult to get dry.

The clothes which the prevailing temperature compels us to wear are even in the summer of a thickness which renders them capable of absorbing a vast amount of water , and the air is of a dampness which slows up evaporation and so keeps them wet.

Not but that I think Ireland has a worse reputation as regards weather than she deserves. Rain is frequent, especially in the west, but seldom lasts long . A whole wet day is rare.'

Robert Lloyd Praeger 'The Way that I Went' 1937

...And he was someone who knew his way around the Country.

This weather...

I look out of the kitchen window every morning to see how many inches of rain there are in the wheelbarrow, just to get a steer on the day ahead. Whatever way you look at it, it is depressing. Still, it could be worse, you could be living in Carlow and find that your brand new apartment block is flooded. It was good to see John Gormley pay a visit down there today.

The new draft guidelines for planning authorities on sustainable residential development in urban areas from last February states: " ...Fundamental questions to be addressed at the outset of the planning process include: ... The avoidance of natural hazards such as flood risk, and avoidance of increased flood risk for downstream areas."

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but it appears clear that more extreme weather events such as flash floods are part of what climate change may bring to Ireland. Rapid urbanisation has led to a lot more tarmacadam and concrete out there which increases the risk of flooding due to run-off from non-porous surfaces.

Flooding.ie is a font of knowledge, but I'm not quite sure if I would have the presence of mind to consult 'My Family Flood Plan' and ensure that I 'harvest any crops that can be ripened indoors, such as tomatoes' or empty any petrol lawn mowers before the water rises.

I also wouldn't be exactly comforted by clicking on the 'A flood is coming , what do I do' link and finding a page that does little more than remind me that 'Floods are the most common and widespread of all natural disasters.' Note to webmaster: check those links!

Floodmaps.ie is more technical, and includes mapping for your own area with local authority reports on flooding, press coverage of flooding events and even that famous photograph of Bertie NOT walking on water (under the Drumcondra 2002 section.)

Someone also suggested to me that the flooding from the Maretimo Carysfort stream in Blackrock last year came soon after the clear-felling of forestry on the side of Three Rock Mountain. There is a very detailed annotated map prepared by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council on floodmaps.ie with hand-written notes that highlight areas vulnerable to flooding, but floodmaps.ie isn't great for links. Try Blackrock, County Dublin, and open the report on 'Flood Event: Hyde Park Gardens Recurring'.

Ideally all Development Plans should be underpinned by this historical knowledge, and planning authorities should ensure that land use zoning don't allow for development on land that has been repeatedly flooded unless there are compelling reasons for doing so.

Perhaps developers should underwrite the first twenty years of flood insurance with any property that they sell. That would put manners on any cowboys that there might be out there.

Clarence Hotel Decision

Thanks to Tom Cosgrave for the prompt.

Yep the planning approval for the Clarence gets my goat. Actually, the extra couple of floors that the Clarence got fifteen years ago annoyed me as well. Blame for that one can be laid at the door of Gay McCarron who was Dublin City Planning Officer at the time. One of the principle objections back then was that it would open the door to the future demolition of the four story buildings next door, and that's exactly what is happening.

One of the worst aspects of the current scheme is the emphasis on facade retention. It is not dissimilar to practicing taxidermy on a beautiful old friend while their heart is still beating. The Clarence is an attractive early 1930s building, and the buildings to the east are much older. They will all be subsumed into the scheme but are worthy of retention in their entirety. I didn't like the way the members of the City of Dublin Workingmen's Club which used to be located beside the Clarence were decanted into a new building off Capel Street. I also don't like the arguments that you hear time and time again about how hotels don't stack up commercially unless they double their number of bedrooms. Incidentally the Inspector felt that the building which housed the club was of regional importance on page 44 of his report.

I've argued this out with Laura Magahy when she was MD of Temple Bar Properties years ago, but the area's essential quality used to be its small scale-character, and time and again that was altered by planning decisions made by Temple Bar Properties, Dublin City Council and An Bord Pleanála. If Dublin does need a five star hotel with a flying saucer on top then maybe Docklands is the place for it, not Temple Bar.

The precedent of allowing facade retention of listed buildings (Protected Structures) is a dangerous one, and could open the floodgates for second-rate planning applications all over the country. The decision may refer to this as a "bespoke building of design excellence", but in my mind its open season . If you can't hold on to Protected Structure in a Conservation Area, then who knows where it will end? It's also worrying (and perhaps unprecedented?) that the Board's decision seems to diverge from the conservation advice given by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government

I'm also annoyed by the way the Boys went down the 'Starchitecture' route of choosing Norman Foster's firm for the job. It shows the same lack of design confidence that many cities (including Dublin) display when they opt for a Calatrava bridge. If Dublin City Council really cared that much about design they wouldn't allow replica Victorian litter bins (Did the Victorians use litter bins on their streets?) to be placed blocking the lighting on the south side of the James Joyce Bridge on the Quays. Instead of choosing architects like Kevin Roche, Norman Foster or Santiago Calatrava for projects in Dublin twenty or forty years after they've emerged on the world stage we should be choosing today's rising stars for these projects.

Urban Clutter

Metropanels and Metropoles, what ever way you look at it, the whole thing stinks.

It was a stitch-up between Dublin City Council officials and the Advertising Company JCDecaux. In return for taking down 48 billboard ads around the city, JCDecaux get to erect 120 ads all over the middle of Dublin. The amazing thing is that many of the signs they're removing never had planning permission in the first place, and they haven't even made public the list of what is being removed. JC Decaux know their way around Dublin, and I've know doubt that they've picked the highest value sites for their urban clutter.

Apart from the visual pollution they're causing a traffic hazard and an impediment to pedestrians. Just look at this poor couple crossing Parnell Street with a walking aid. In a moment they'll be invisible to fast moving traffic. It's an accident waiting to happen and makes my blood boil. Thankfully they've removed the one on Dorset Street, but they should just drop the whole project. Boards was on to it early on, as was the Village magazine and Ian Lumley from An Taisce.

Oh, they're throwing in a few free bikes as a sop to the Council, but as far as I'm concerned the whole idea should have been killed at birth. Well done to DangerInDublin, Mulley (though I can't find my way through his old entries to find the exact link) and others who have also highlighted the issue. Bee's entry on Boards.ie of a terrier pup whimpering after it ran under one grazing its back would be humorous if it wasn't so sad, not to mind the concerns of NCBI. Their guidelines on street furniture are ignored left right and centre with these signs, and there's worse to come when they put in the ones at head height.

Lunatics and asylums come to mind. I also feel a rant against Michael O'Leary coming on, but I'll deal with that in another forum.

Hopefully our County Manager in Dún Laoghaire Owen Keegan won't fall for their same sales schpiel from JC Decaux.