Ireland & "Clone Town Britain"

During the so called "Celtic Tiger" period; when approving Retail Planning Applications; local Elected Representatives and Public Servants disregarded the structure of the local community, established businesses; quality skillsets, the employment likely to be offered and any future trend modelling in terms of consumer learned habits etc.

Planning was approved rashly in the great race to modernise, combined with a liberal smattering of corruption as the recent tribunals have uncovered. No thought was given to the future of local skilled artisans, family businesses, the local supply chain and the consumption of local produce. 

Having effectively saturated Britain with "Clone Town" centres, the Celtic Tiger provided the ideal opportunity for British High Street Chains to press the Irish idiot class of local elected officials to repeat the destruction already meted out to British Towns.

Irish towns are currently suffering a plight which is in effect worse that the phenomenon kown as "Clone Town Britain". The "shrunken heads" of many previous town centres have indeed become a carbon copy of "Clone Town Britain", however the destruction of local communities in Ireland was hit with the "sucker punch" of bespoke "out of town" retail parks.

The local authorities provided the final coup de gras to their own town centres by introducing or increasing parking charges and in providing insuficient parking in many towns, combined with the policy of practically zero local public transport even in the larger towns.

Sadly the net effect of these outragous planning decisions is that those employed within the retail sector in many Irish towns are merely cash register or check-out operators. Local butchers, bakers and candle-stick makers are becoming a dying breed. And as many of the out of town hypermarket planning approvals permit massive stores which also double up as newsagents, clothing stores, electrical and computer retailer and toy store. In many communities one single planning approval with the potential to offer merely shelf stacking and check-out positions by a multinational chain store which purchases almost nothing locally has literally ripped the heart and soul out of the local community.

Irelands local politicians seem to have forgotten that the very DNA of the local community is contained within the wide array of skills and personalities of its inhabitants.

Further recommended reading:

http://www.neweconomics.org/projects/clone-town-britain

http://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/donal-hickey/saving-historic-heart-of-our-towns-176027.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1312055/UKs-ultimate-clone-town-4-10-high-streets-identikit-places.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahon_Tribunal 

http://struggle.ws/ws98/ws53_corrupt.html