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Mallon commits to
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NORTHERN IRELAND PLANNER LIVE
Mallon commits to delivering change and a green recovery
By Laura Edgar
Launching Northern Ireland Planner solutions to the challenges we continue Live, Nichola Mallon, infrastructure to face. More than ever, when faced with minister at the Northern Ireland the challenge of Covid-19, the Executive, outlined her commitment turbulence of Brexit, and the climate to “seizing the opportunities to enable emergency, I believe we need to a green cleaner recovery towards a radically change the way we do things new and better normal for all of us”. and plan for the future. It is my fi rm Mallon, who took up the role in indeed, the planning system are well January this year after three years placed to address these challenges without an executive, innovatively through has not only had to contend with a backlog of decisions, but also the Covid-19 pandemic. She told RTPI CEO Victoria Hills that modern and sustainable infrastructure is a “key “I BELIEVE WE NEED TO RADICALLY CHANGE THE WAY WE DO THINGS AND PLAN FOR THE FUTURE” – NICHOLA MALLON partnership working, through both central and local government, and also across the public and private sectors working with our communities and with our neighbours across these islands.” building block of prosperity”. Th e basics See the full story on need to be right and the Th e Planner website: bit. long history of under- ly/planner1120-recoveryly/planner1120-recoveryyp y investment in infrastructure must be addressed. ed. Investment in infrastructure “cannot annot take place in isolation and without the hout the understanding these investments can nts can have”, she said. Mallon believes that, as a profession, ofession, planners have “a vital role” to play in play in developing places in which people live, ople live, work and enjoy their leisure time. me.
“In these uncertain times planners anners are well placed to guide, encourage and rage and to promote a more integrated approach approach to land use and infrastructure development, and to look for innovative and locally agreed view that the planning profession and,
Th e key messages
n Speaking of the Covid-19 pandemic, Professor John
Barry, Queen’s University
Belfast, explained that people, on a more sociological level, are understanding the country’s – and people’s – vulnerability. “Whether it’s long supply chains that leave us very vulnerable, issues of food… insecurity – but also the sense that our lives cannot be taken for granted in terms of the interconnected worlds we live in.”
Who would have thought, Barry added, that if you had a garden “you are extremely lucky during this pandemic”? luc
He urged planners to H ensure that “people are within ens the Parisian mayor’s idea of the the 15-minute city”. Perhaps, the he added, the pandemic and he the planetary crisis provide a the chance to “rethink the cha training of planners, in terms trai of it enhancing their vision, of i that it is not just growth”. tha
n Addressing the eff ects of A both Covid-19 and the climate bot crisis would require a cris “reimagining of planning” “re going “beyond purely goi
statutory and regulatory As planners, he said, “we functions”, said RTPI NI and need to see how we address Cymru director Roisin this new world to fi nd out Willmott OBE FRTPI. She where the opportunities are said governance contingency for reshaping the post-Covid planning “needs attention in environment”. Northern Ireland and we need “We need to adapt, much more resilient systems, recalibrate and provide IT infrastructure and the environments that are going to ability for planners to work work for people.” from home seamlessly during Creating healthy places major incidents could be done such as the pandemic”. Planning systems need to be digitising and processes should be more effi cient to enable “WE NEED TO ADAPT, RECALIBRATE AND PROVIDE ENVIRONMENTS THAT ARE GOING TO WORK FOR PEOPLE” – ALISTAIR BEGGS through policy oversight of the planning system, of local development plans and by looking at regionally planners to focus signifi cant on placemaking planning and facilitate applications, wider access and he said. participation in the planning process. n John O'Hara, planning
manager at Dublin City
n Alistair Beggs, director of Council, stressed that “whilst strategic planning at the we are cognisant of Covid-19, Department for we don’t panic”. Th e council is Infrastructure, said now considering whether expectations of what people improved public transport, want from where they live combined with homeworking, have changed as a result of the particularly if it becomes a pandemic. Th is, and the long-term feature, is impact to sectors such as retail, contributing to the problem of tourism, construction, urban sprawl and dispersal. transport and health services, “Is that a good or a bad thing will need to be considered in if it saves energy and saves local development plans. time travelling?”
Young planner comment:
Ryan Walker, planning consultant at Th e Paul Hogarth Company in Belfast and chair of RTPI Northern Ireland
Young Planners told Th e Planner it was great to hear the infrastructure minister “speak so passionately about planning and with such commitment to seizing the chance for change”.
“For me, the key message of the week was that this is an opportune moment for change, it must be a turning point and a call for action to break the unhealthy and unsustainable cycles we engage with in relation to infrastructure and land use planning. Collectively, as a profession we need to break the status quo and break outside of red-line boundaries to reaffi rm the importance of context, connectivity and to re-emphasise the critical nature of placemaking when meeting our infrastructural needs.”
n At the conference, Ryan Walker was awarded the RTPI Northern Ireland Young Planner of the Year (full details on page 47).
