Submission on Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Bill, 2006
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
The Irish Planning Institute supports the principle of faster and more effective planning decisions particularly with regard to key infrastructure where there is a general consensus that the development is needed and will benefit the common good. However, the Institute has given serious and lengthy consideration to the Bill now before the Oireachtas, and has concluded that, if passed into Law, the new proposals will undermine key principles of our planning system particularly with regard to the following issues:
- The absence of a clear linkage to the hierarchy of planning policy instruments (particularly development plans and local area plans) that are at the core of our planning system;
- The absence of rights of appeal on substantive planning issues for all parties, with recourse to the courts only on points of law, strikes at the principles of fairness that underpin our planning system; and
- The threat to the impartiality of An Bord Pleanála in the public’s eye if they are required to facilitate consultation with the parties to a proposal.
As the professional institute representing the planners, both in the public sector and in the private sector, that currently work at the coalface of the planning system and have experience of its practical operation, and also that will be tasked with implementing the new statutory provisions, the Institute feels that it has a contribution to make to the debate, and offers these comments and suggestions.