REPORT SHOWS THE HUMAN COST OF BAD PLANNING, SAYS DE BURCA

"Bad planning decisions mean that people must work far away from where they live", said de Burca. "This means that they must travel every day, with the resulting traffic congestion just making things worse". According the councillor de Burca, many residents of county Wicklow face commutes of up to three hours per day, and this is made worse by property agents advertising houses in Arklow and even in Gorey as 'within commuting distance of Dublin'.

There are also health costs attached to long distance commuting, said de Burca, who is the Green Party's joint spokesperson for health. "If people must live far from where they work they have the stress of constant daily driving which is in turn compounded by having less time and opportunity to exercise". "Long distance commuters also have less time to spend with their families and generally suffer an impoverished quality of life", she said.

Pointing out that public transportation services to Dublin and within the county are under-resourced and overstretched, councillor de Burca warned that the towns and villages of Wicklow must not become dormitory suburbs for long distance commuters to the capital.

"The expected growth in Wicklow's population over the next decade must be planned in an integrated and sustainable way with adequate public transportation and real provision for social infrastructure", said councillor de Burca. "Already many people in Wicklow are paying the cost of bad planning decisions made decades ago. If we don't manage future growth better we are storing up even worse problems for the future". "Spending hours every day stuck in traffic jams is not progress", she said. "Is this the life we want for ourselves and our children?".

For further information please contact Deirdre de Burca on 086 8061450 or email deburca@wicklowgreens.org.