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End of 'one-off housing' in parts of Mayo?

Mayo county councillors will try this week to persuade government planners that their new county plan, which allows for one-off housing, should not be reversed. One-off housing refers to the building of individual rural houses, outside of towns and villages. It contrasts with housing developments where multiple units are constructed as part of a housing estate or city street. There has been a lot of controversy about one-off housing in recent years.

Arguments against 'one-off housing':

• The conservation organisation, An Taisce, maintains a policy against the 'bungalow blitz' in rural areas. They are against 'ribbon development' with individual houses built for three to four miles along the main road from a town or village. They say increased demand for private car use that follows from one-off housing developments will lead to a greater average carbon footprint for residents.

• 'One-off housing' draws people out of rural towns and villages, stifling the growth of these regions.

• Population growth is not desirable in 'ultra-rural' areas that should by right become natural recreational areas with land-owners employed in land-maintenance, forestry and tourism-related services.

• Economist, David McWilliams' view on the matter is clear: "If we have one-off housing, we cannot have a functioning public transport system, public health service, public education system or postal system, never mind universal access to broadband or cable".

Arguments for 'one-off housing':

• People should have the right to either build on land they own or else that people should have the right to build a house near to where their families live.

• Ireland has a dispersed pattern of settlement going back thousands of years and why should that change now?

In July, Environment Minister, John Gormley, issued a directive to the Council to ‘‘prioritise and develop residentially zoned lands in the Castlebar-Ballina hub over other locations in the county’’. The county councillors don't want new one-off housing having to be moved to the hubs of Ballina or Castlebar. They say currently, 70% of Mayo's population live outside of towns and villages and it's been like that for centuries and should remain so.

The councillors will present the case for their plan at a joint Oireachtas committee meeting on Tuesday.

Emerging economies to be the biggest players

Consultancy firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, announced on Friday that within the next five years it expects emerging economies (led by China and India) to have a higher proportion of global output than western economies. A global recession will trigger a dramatic shift in the economic balance of power to the emerging world that could see the west lose the dominance it has enjoyed since the dawning of the industrial age. While the US would remain the world's biggest economy, China would overtake the eurozone and become the second largest. Between them the four so-called Brics (Brazil, Russia, India and China) would alone account for 26.5% of global GDP.

Full article, The Guardian, 01 November 2008

Considering the night that's in it...