Census of the Planning Profession in Ireland
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
This study is a census of the planning profession in the Republic of Ireland as it stood in late 2006. Its purpose is to provide a snapshot of the profession at that time and thus enable the Institute to better serve its members, identify trends and play a key role in advising and ad¬vocating on changes as required.
The Irish Planning Institute was founded in 1975 and with over 700 members is the professional body representing the majority of professional planners in Ireland.
This census builds on studies by the Institute in 1983 and 1996, which examined staffing levels in lo¬cal authorities. The profession has now grown to the extent that planners work in many different areas of the public service and across the private sector. This study expands research by the institute for the first time into these areas.
The past 10 years have been a period of signifi¬cant growth for the planning profession. The study outlines that there are now just over 600 planners in local government, 100 approximately in other areas of the public sector and in excess of 300 planners in private practice.
The study highlights that any improvements within the local authority system since 1996 have been matched with a huge growth in planning appli¬cations since that time. Furthermore, with only ap¬proximately 25% of local authority planners currently working in the area of forward planning and approximately 5% on enforcement, it is clear the system re¬mains reactive with much work remaining undone in these areas.
Any perception that the planning system at local government level is well resourced versus 10 years ago is therefore largely untrue due to these huge increases in workloads in terms of volume, diversity and complexity and the fact that the planning service was coming from such a low base.
For the most part the staff numbers that exist in planning departments at present are those that were in existence when local government reform (Better Local Government) was introduced in 1999/2000 and have been capped at that level since the current pub¬lic sector recruitment embargo was imposed.
In the context of a strongly growing population and many social, economic and environmental chal¬lenges, it is clear that the need for proper planning is now more acute than it ever was. The public now de¬mand that planning is fully recognised as much more than a rigid regulatory function and instead a key shaper of our future at all spatial levels. As a conse¬quence the planning authorities must now be looked at again in terms of staffing levels and structures. This must be done in the context that a successful planning department is where there is a cohesive, ef¬ficient and well resourced multi-disciplinary team of staff comprising planners, other professional/techni¬cal staff and administrators. It is suggested that each planning department be “resource audited” under a set of criteria to be determined and organised by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government with the agreement of the City/County Managers.
The study also concludes that it is not satisfac¬tory that no planners are employed in a government department other than the Department of Environ¬ment, Heritage and Local Government. This must be addressed without delay in departments such as Education, Transport, Enterprise, Tourism and others that are required to work closely with the planning process.
Download the study: A Census of the Planning Profession in Ireland