An Taisce has welcomed the decision of An Bord Pleanala to refuse permission to the Department of Community Gaeltacht and Rural Affairs for the relocation of the Department and Ministerial headquarters to a site at Knock Airport, as part of the Government decentralisation programme.

The application was refused on the grounds of its breach of the development location and transport policies of the Mayo County Development Plan and the National Spatial Strategy 2002, its remoteness from ancillary services and facilities and public transport infrastructure, as well as the poor working environment for office workers in a location beside the airport runway.

The An Bord Pleanala decision highlights the failure of the current decentralisation programme to comply with the 2002 National Spatial Strategy, in directing locations of decentralised Government Departments and offices to the growth centres identified as Gateways or Hubs, and maximise access to and encourage use of public transport.

The decision is now well timed with this week’s agreed programme for Government, qualifying the continued operation of the Decentralisation programme with the provision to “continue to move ahead with decentralisation taking account of the National Spatial Strategy”.

“This must now be acted on. A complete review of the decentralisation programme locations should now be sought” stated an An Taisce spokesperson. “Decentralised offices should be situated in the Gateways and Hubs in locations which have good access to public transport, and do not worsen car based sprawl. Locations near railway stations should be the obvious priority.”

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