We Need a New Democratic European Planning System

Our planning system is broken and dysfunctional. Communities are increasingly concerned; developers, architects and planners frustrated, and politicians under constant pressure due to issues arising from almost every development proposal, particularly for new housing schemes.

The current problems with our planning system urgently need to be addressed if we are to arrive at acceptable outcomes that meet the needs of all our citizens, bearing in mind projected population growth of one million by 2040 and the anticipated need for 600,000 new homes. Unless the systemic problems in our planning system are addressed, the housing crisis will be exacerbated.

So what can be done? The source of many of these problems is that Ireland based its planning system, as legislated for in the 1963 Planning and Development Act, on the equivalent British model. But given that most of our more recent planning legislation derives from EU directives, there is a strong case for adopting the clarity and certainty of the planning systems in other European countries.

The large body of planning legislation and regulations in the years since 1963, consolidated in the 2000 Planning and Development Act, reflects the expansion of the statutory development control system to meet the demands arising from economic growth, the need for environmental protection and a desire, on the part of the public, for an independent planning appeals system.

The 2000 Act reflected a growing European dimension arising from Ireland’s membership of the EU. The core principles underlying it were to ensure that the planning system of the 21st century would be strategic in approach, have an ethos of sustainable development, and deliver outcomes of the highest quality. As part of the new legislation, a clear hierarchical planning system was introduced within the context of a National Spatial Strategy (NSS), with regional planning being put on a statutory footing. Plans at regional and local level must have regard to the NSS.

The Irish planning system is no longer functioning properly to meet the needs of our society. This is now beginning to impact on our ability to attract continued Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as news of the uncertainty at the core of it has reached the boardrooms of investors in New York, London and Frankfurt. We need a new planning system in which all stakeholders can have confidence that the future form of our cities and towns is clearly articulated and understandable.

Despite the democratic process inherent in the current Irish system, local communities have felt increasingly alienated from local government. This alienation is attributed to:

• frustration with the limited range of activities that fall within the remit of local government
• elected members being seen as representing the views of only some sections of the community
• the perceived failure of local authorities to be pro-active in responding to new societal needs and demands.

 

The primary planning function of local authorities is to prepare and adopt a Development Plan, with a statement of aims in written text and maps, to represent the wishes of their constituents for the future geography of the area over a five-year time horizon.

The Development Plan is the main instrument for regulation and control of development at the county level. A new plan must be made every six years, laying out the local authority’s policies to govern land use and development control in its area.

In general, the plan shows the authority’s objectives for the sole or primary use of particular areas (e.g., residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural), as well as road improvements, renewal of obsolete areas and preserving, improving or extending amenities.

Public participation in making the Development Plan is important — at the initial stage when the planning authority advertises its intention to review the existing plan, later when a new draft plan has been published, and finally on the amended draft before it is adopted.

At all these stages, the public can make submissions or observations, within specified time periods, on what is being proposed by the planning authority. Notice of the making of the draft plan is published and it then goes on public display for at least 10 weeks, during which time the public may make submissions or observations on its content.

The production of the Development Plan exclusively in written and map form, often complex and difficult to understand, is at variance with the methodologies used in most EU countries — particularly in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Netherlands, Germany, Spain and Portugal, where plans for cities and towns are additionally in the form of models and three-dimensional CGIs.

We have much to learn from our European neighbours in addressing the problems of our current system. In European cities and towns, planning departments typically consist of a large number of planners and urban designers who are continually involved in planning areas of the city. Development control involves only a small number of staff and is seen as an administrative function.

In the cities and towns visited and researched in my role as a director of the Academy of Urbanism, one of their most impressive attributes is the sense of ownership of city or town visions by all parties across the political spectrum from extreme left to extremeright. It is their plan and they are proud to explain it to visitors.

To encourage the adoption of a similar approach in Ireland, the following is a suggested way forward:

The Development Plan should illustrate its aims and intentions as a vision for the city or town in written, map and three-dimensional forms (CGIs and models), and should articulate its overall aims for specific neighbourhoods in local area plans and special development zone plans, produced concurrently with the Development Plan.

Extensive community engagement and briefings in a clear an understandable format would occur in each of these local areas prior to adoption of the plan. It would then be open to any concerned party to appeal any aspect of the plan to An Bord Pleanála, with its final determination having the status of an outline planning permission.

An application for development in compliance with the various criteria of the Development Plan would automatically be approved and would not be open to further appeal. This would reduce the need for large development control departments and free up planners and urban designers to focus, as they do in EU countries, on planning cities and towns.

Moving away from the inherited British planning system and adopting the visionary methodologies of European planning practice has the potential to create a situation where citizens, local representatives, architects, planners, builders and developers can all understand and have confidence in the planned futures of our cities and towns so that we can address the challenges facing 21st century Ireland.

The current review by the Attorney General of our Planning System is an opportunity to adopt the better planning systems of our EU Partners. It has the prospect of addressing the concerns that everyone with an interest in the planning system has from local communities, developers, architects, planners and politicians. It will give confidence to all with an interest in the future planning of our island and allow us to continue to be a successful sustainable modern European knowledge economy. Let us hope that our government and all responsible for the adoption of a new Irish Planning System see this potential and act on it.