TWICE THE SIZE - DIT Update - Dublin Institute of Technology

transport connections, Ireland as a polycentric city is a notion that merits serious consideration.
To develop that notion a better understanding of the flows and connectivity between various
urban centres in Ireland is required.
3.1.2 Evolution of Irish Spatial and Land-Use Policy
This section aims to provide a brief and concise historical background to the formulation of Irish
regional and land-use planning policy that preceded the current National Spatial Strategy. Until
the modernisation of the Irish economy in the 1960s, and the attendant halt to economic
stagnation and longstanding emigration, there had been little progress by way of land use
planning in Ireland.
The first significant land use planning legislation introduced into Ireland was the Local
Government (Planning and Development) Act 1963. This Act was modelled closely on the
existing Town and Country Planning legislation in force in the United Kingdom since 1947. The
main provisions of the 1963 Act included the establishment of statutory planning authorities
which became a key function of the existing local authorities (Norris and Shiels, 2007).
Each local authority was obliged to prepare a five year development plan, which provided land
use designations by way of zoning for specific uses and an accompanying written statement of
intent. In addition to preparing development plans, each local authority had the power to grant
or refuse planning permission for individual development proposals which were to adhere to the
objectives of the development plan. The 1963 Act went into force in 1964 and remained the
principal land use planning legislation in Ireland until 2000.
As the 1960s progressed, it became apparent that the resumption of population growth and the
industrialisation of the Irish economy would create pressure for significant new development in
and around the main towns and cities. In order to plan for this growth, a series of studies were
carried out, and, from these, a number of key reports were produced. One such significant
report was the Dublin Regional Advisory Plan prepared by Myles Wright et al., also known
popularly as the Wright Plan.
This report, published in 1967, projected a target population for the Dublin Region of 1.3 million
by 1991 and recommended accommodating the bulk of the additional population in four selfsufficient
linear towns located to the West of the existing city. These new linear towns were to
contain between 65,000 and 120,000 persons upon completion and be separated from each
other by linear green belts. Each new town was to contain industry and commercial facilities to
provide employment and retail amenities respectively for their inhabitants so as to reduce
dependency on the existing Dublin city centre (Wright, 1967).
The Wright Report was never formally adopted by the Dublin planning authorities: instead it
became the informal blueprint for the formulation of the 1972 Dublin County Development Plan
and subsequent development plans until the 1990s. A key difference between Wright’s
recommendations and those of the 1972 Development Plan was the merging of two of the linear
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