‘GUBU’ banking to blame for county overzoning

GUBU banking practices in the Celtic Tiger years were behind massive overzoning in Clare and other counties, according to Green Party Councillor Brian Meaney.
It was reported this week that while Clare has enough land zoned for the building of another 34,477 units it is unlikely to need half of this.
A similar situation is said to exist in other counties, with enough land zoned in Meath to satisfy more than 60 times the actual demand.
“Essentially, it comes from a GUBU era when the standard rules of banking were thrown out the window. Under the standard rules, if a bank had €100 million it could lend €80 million and leave €20 million with the Central Bank.
“Under the Anglo model, if a bank had €100 million it would borrow another €200 million and then lend €300 million. As a result, the economy went into hyperdrive,” said Councillor Meaney.
He said last winter’s weather helped illustrate some of the consequences of overzoning.
“A lot of it was based on population growth estimates that haven’t materialised. It happened for a variety of reasons, there was developer-led pressure and pressure from landowners.
“There are lessons to be learned about zoning in areas that are prone to flooding. We are into a new era now and people have a responsibility to take cognisance of mistakes made in the past.”
He said that Ennis has reacted to overzoning in the town with a plan to develop land zoned for housing in phases.
He described the plan as ‘innovative’ and said that the Department of Environment had been helpful in relation to it.
Speaking to The Clare Champion, Councillor PJ Kelly said that elected representatives might have been overly keen to help constituents to get their land zoned for housing.
“It wouldn’t have been electorally advisable to tell a guy to forget about it,” he said.
He added that the amount of land zoned could be misinterpreted anyway.
“It’s a matter of opinion. I wouldn’t say it is overzoned everywhere, that’s the view of the bureaucrats in Dublin. Land may be zoned that’s unavailable for development or it may be unsuitable. People might have got the zoning changed because they wanted to increase the value of their assets but they might have no notion of developing it.”
Councillor Kelly agreed with Councillor Meaney that the rush to have land zoned was “part of the frenzy of the Celtic Tiger”.