The Green Party has called for a Luas line to link Dublin to the centre of Bray, and has made a plea for proper planning in South Dublin and North Wicklow. Speaking at a press conference in the Royal Hotel, Bray Co. Wicklow today, the Party expressed concern that developer-led planning was reducing green space and contributing to urban sprawl.

The call comes in reaction to the publication of the LUTS report (Land Use & Transportation Study) for North Bray and Environs in March and a Public Consultation Brochure by the Rail Procurement Agency (RPA) in August, of route options for extending the Luas Green Line to link Cherrywood with the Bray area.

Green Party General Election candidate for Wicklow, Councillor Deirdre de Burca said none of the three route options in the Luas study adequately serve the people of Bray and Wicklow and called for a Luas line that would extend to the existing Bray railway station. She also criticised the North Bray and Environs LUTS study, describing it as a 'developer's charter' for the rezoning and development of agricultural and high amenity lands between Bray, Shankill and Enniskerry.

"The route options recently presented to Minister Martin Cullen ignore both the existing and future populations of Bray, Greystones, Wicklow Town and Arklow. The Green Party is calling for the extended Luas line to directly service the €2 billion commercial and residential development on the Bray Golf Club lands that is already scheduled for development.

"This would give more rail options for the people of Bray. It would cater for travellers using commuter rail on the Wicklow commuter rail line that extends to Rosslare. It would also benefit new residents of the planned developments on the Bray Golf Course lands close the centre of Bray.

'With huge planned population growth in North and East Wicklow, the N11, which is near or at full capacity, will become another M50 choking the commercial life of the county. The Luas must connect with the Wexford rail line or we can give no public transport options to the fast growing commuter towns of Arklow, Wicklow, Greystones. The North Bray/ Fassaroe proposals along with the proposals for Woodbrook and Bray Golf Club will create a commuter hell. The connection of the Luas to the existing rail line will give some relief in this scenario if these developments go ahead as planned."

Green Party Transport spokesperson, Eamon Ryan TD said: "The golf club lands development alone will generate in excess of 2,000 cars per hour. Without adequate public transport options, the gridlock currently affecting Bray and the adjacent N11 at peak hours will worsen significantly. Unfortunate motorists will have to negotiate multiple Mad Cow Roundabouts as they attempt to approach Bray.

"Three route options were identified in the study; two of these would travel inland to the west of the towns and Shankill and Bray. The third option would travel on the route of the former Harcourt Street line through Shankill and joining up with the DART and east coast rail line at Woodbrook. The Green Party believes that a variation of the third should be chosen that would extend to the heart of Bray. This would best serve the needs of existing and planned communities in Shankill, Bray and Wicklow.

Green Party Environment spokesperson, Ciarán Cuffe TD said: "Proper planning means making the right choices for existing and future communities. We are concerned that two of the three light rail routes would lead to rezoning and development on the foothills of the Dublin Mountains. It would also lead to new development pressures between Enniskerry and Bray.

"We are concerned that the existing communities of Shankill, Bray and Enniskerry could lose their green belts and become joined together by urban sprawl. To avoid this we need to put the needs of communities first instead of developers. That means routing the Luas to serve the existing communities.

"We simply can't allow every blade of grass near Dublin to be paved over with development, and that means better planning is required. We're scratching our heads over some of the routes chosen that go through open countryside, and we want answers to why these routes were chosen.

"We've already seen enormous increases in land prices along some of the proposed routes. The recent rezoning of Sir Marc Cochrane's lands at Shankill from agricultural to high density housing increased their value from €2m to €200m. The Government should not stand idly by and watch this happen; it needs to make sure that local authorities can capture the bulk of this increase in the value of land and use it to build affordable homes."