SlaNey eNviroNMeNt
Wexford hosts major planning conference Irish Planning Institute (IPI) highlights key steps to complete the transformation of the planning system in Ireland.
Cathaoirleach of Wexford County Council Cllr Barbara-Anne Murphy addresses the delegates at the Welcome Event for the IPI Conference 2021.
President of the Irish Planning Institute (IPI), Dr Conor Norton, has called for renewed urgency in the ongoing transformation of the planning system in Ireland to meet the major challenges in achieving sustainable development and climate action. Speaking at the IPI Annual Planning Conference in Wexford on 19th November in the context of the Housing for All and National Development Plan, Dr Conor Norton also highlighted the opportunity to rapidly rebalance the system and deliver a fit for purpose planning system for Ireland. Dr Norton outlined at the conference the key areas that need to be addressed, with the Minister of State for Planning and Local Government, Peter Burke TD, department officials and delegates in attendance.
1. Establish and commit to the fundamentals of planning: The true purpose of planning is to act in the interests of the public and the common good, and to secure the objectives of sustainable development. There is plenty of scope within these to complete the transformation of the planning system and to help to restore public confidence in the system. 2. ‘Connect the dots’ with a plan-led system: There is a need to complete the move to a plan-led planning system. While positive work has been done at national level, and with regional and metropolitan plans in place, the focus needs to shift to County and Local level. 3. Restoration of local level planning: With improved local level planning, the purpose and function of planning guidelines must be reconsidered. While there is no appetite to keep shifting the planning goalposts, sustainable place-making at local level must trump generic planning guidelines. 4. Consistency in decision making: There is need for consistency in decision-making and a rebalance of national and local level considerations, in addition to how vague highlevel policy is translated into Local Authority and An Bord Pleanála planning decisions. While this is important for planners, it is even more important for a ‘confused public’.
Senior Planner Wexford Co. Council, Diarmuid Houston, welcomes the delegates to the IPI Conference 2021.
5. Regional planning: Ireland is almost unique in Europe as it still uses a two-tier government structure. In most countries regional planning provides the link between national and local level planning. Nationallevel planning should focus on national spatial and planning policy, and can coordinate regional planning, and indeed avoid unnecessary involvement in local matters. Likewise, local planning can then focus on the business of placemaking and regeneration within the coordinating framework of regional planning, and indeed high-level national policy and guidance. Concluding, Dr Norton said, “We have little time to waste and planners across the private and public sector need to work together and in collaboration with government to build the system that Ireland deserves and one that can meet the challenges ahead of us.” n
Back Row L-R: Cllr Pip Breen; Anthony Abbott King; Cllr Garry Laffan; Diarmuid Houston; Brian Keaney and Paul Hennessy. Front Row L-R: Cathaoirleach of Wexford Co. Council Cllr Barbara-Anne Murphy; Mary MacMahon; Dr. Conor Norton; Ciara Kellett.
1st December 2021 - Page 97
