Press Release - IPI National Planning Conference 2011
Thursday, May 05, 2011
Press Release 5/5/2011
CALL FOR GOVERNMENT POLICY ON PLANNING
A Government Policy on Planning which would set out a clear roadmap for the country’s physical planning over the next 5 to 10 years was called for today (Thurs) by the President of the Irish Planning Institute (IPI), Mr Gordon Daly.
Speaking at the opening of the National Planning Conference in Galway, Mr Daly said that planning, as a forward-looking, strategically focused activity can, if properly deployed, help to harness the potential that exists in areas such as agri-food, tourism, renewable energy and other natural resources including our extensive marine environment.
He pointed out that effective planning is central to generating efficiencies, particularly in capital expenditure, and can ensure that scarce resources get to where they are needed most and that we make best use of our existing and proposed infrastructure.
“Planning can help us have better places in which to live and work - a key to any investment decision,” Mr Daly told delegates adding: “The economic, social, cultural and environmental benefits that can accrue from good planning have never really been fully realised or captured in this country - a Government Policy on Planning would be an important first step towards achieving this.”
He said such a policy would provide clarity as to what key outcomes we wish to achieve from our planning system. “We have been far too dependent on the vagaries of the marketplace. We need to have a wider vision and this policy would achieve this by bringing a more balanced view on where we need to go for the future.”
Such a Government policy should also contribute strongly to any dialogue on the future of local government., adding: “It is crucially important that planning is not just seen as one branch of local government, but that it is recognised as one of the key drivers and enablers of it.”
Mr Daly cited the new Core Strategy provisions arising from the 2010 Planning Act as a particularly important development as it added “strength” to the planning system where it was needed most, namely the area of plan making.
The IPI President moved to allay the fears of some councillors that it shifted power to central government by stating that he believed the opposite was the case and rather it “puts real power in the hands of councillors” with advice from planners to “make the key decisions in relation to population growth, housing, transport, retail and services for their respective areas”.
A Government Policy on Planning could set priorities such as:
• A Charter on the overall role and purpose of the planning system. The narrow view of planning as an activity solely relating to the processing of planning applications or merely the zoning of land is far too common.
• A national co-ordinating group on planning and development-related research. This would be made up of representatives of organisations such as the CSO, EPA, third-level institutions, the ESRI and others who make important contributions to the field of planning and related research.
• A greater focus on making places work better with the resources we have.
On the national co-ordinating group, he said this was not a call for more resources but added that there needed to be a sharper and more co-ordinated focus so that local authorities, in particular, were better equipped to make effective and responsive development plans and planning policy.
While there was a tendency at national level to think sectorally, at local level people identified with their place, be it a townland, street, estate, village, parish, town, city or county and how these work or don’t work. Planners and government need to be more conscious of this in our structures. We need to think spatially and cross sectorally, he said adding: “We can never underestimate what can be achieved when communities, urban or rural, are empowered. Tidy Towns groups, playground committees, farming co-operatives and the GAA and other sporting organisations, for example, provide evidence of this day-in, day-out across the length and breadth of the country.”
Mr Daly also made the case for the merging of community, enterprise and economic development units and planning departments in smaller to medium-sized local authorities, in particular. This could be further strengthened by bringing local development companies and county/city enterprise board functions into local government so as “to give a greater chance of realising what is needed in a more targeted and efficient manner”.
He accepted that there were some frustrations expressed about how our planning system can facilitate to a greater degree the potential for onshore and offshore renewable energy. However he stressed that key policy areas for renewable energy are spread across five different government departments and stated “if there is not firstly a very coherent approach at a national level it is going to be very difficult for a local planning system to rationalise everything”.
Addressing delegates, he said it was a time of great challenges for the planning profession adding: “In the public sector we must get more from less and be more efficient and effective whilst still delivering good balanced planning.”
However, Mr Daly cautioned that the professional structures in local authorities need to be adequately maintained, particularly the chief planner in each city and county and pointed out that there had already been a reduction of 25 per cent in the number of planners in local authorities over the last two years.
The Irish Planning Institute is the professional body representing professional planners engaged in urban, rural and regional planning in Ireland.