President’s Welcome
Welcome to the Irish Planning Institute web site.
In my coming year as President of the Irish Planning Institute I'd like to focus on ensuring that there is a better understanding of the core principle of planning which is the common good. The Planning and Development Act, 2000 in its title describes its purpose as "to provide, in the interest of the common good for proper planning and sustainable development...." The same reference to the common good was included in the title of the first Planning Act in the State in 1963.
The planning process exists for the benefit of the community at large and not for sectoral interests, whether they be landowners, private individuals or developers. An example of this is the history of excessive zoning of land for development which benefits private individuals but has negative effects on the community at large in terms of quality of life, unsustainability of travel patterns and cost of providing additional infrastructure.
Some of the core principles of the common good and sustainable development are:
To promote excellence of design while protecting and enhancing the natural and manmade environment and historical and cultural resources.
To minimise the use of the earths non-renewable resources while promoting the use of renewable resources within the capacity for regeneration.
To promote social inclusion to ensure an improved quality of life for all.
To promote stakeholder participation at all levels of decision making.
To provide for decision making at the appropriate level.
This last core principle points to the importance of local democracy and I consider that local councillors have a strategic role to play through Development Plans and Local Area Plans particularly in the sequencing of social and community facilities to keep pace with residential development. This would include schools, health centres, local shops, community facilities, playing pitches, open space and provision for walking and cycling.
At this stage when we are experiencing the worst economic crisis for many years in Ireland, there is an opportunity to focus not solely on economic growth but on the environmental and resource related challenges which loom ahead. The planning profession can lead by putting a framework in place to allow a better quality of life for the community at large and for future generations.
This will mean that future plans and strategies at all levels are closely integrated and coherent, that there is a very strong linkage between national strategies, regional guidelines, development plans, and local area plans and that decisions on planning applications are made in terms of these agreed, sustainable plans.
Finally, in my term of office I would like to carry on the work of previous Councils which have seen the numbers of professional Planners in the Institute grow dramatically in recent years to over 700 members and the Institute provide greatly increased services to members including a full time Administrator, a well developed website, a monthly E-zine electronic magazine and, particularly, the development of the regional branch network which provides services to members at local level. There are now 8 branches and I would like, with the support of the new Council, to continue to develop this very important aspect of the expansion of the Institute. In fact, the most recent branch which has been approved by the Council is the northern branch which is soon due to have its inaugural meeting in Belfast. I consider this to be a milestone for the Institute and I intend to give this my every support during my term of office.
Gerry Sheeran,
President.