Dr. Conor Norton:

I thank the committee for inviting the Irish Planning Institute to be represented at the meeting today. I am president of the institute and I will do everything I can to assist the committee with the views of planning professionals regarding the proposed legislation for large-scale residential development.

To give a brief background, the Irish Planning Institute is an all-island professional body representing planners engaged in physical and environmental planning in Ireland. Our mission is to advance planning in the interests of the common good by serving, improving and promoting planning and the planning profession. The institute has members working across the system - in the private sector, the public sector, for developers and for planning authorities in agencies such as the Office of the Planning Regulator, An Bord Pleanála and so forth. The institute is a broad church of professionals. Collectively, the membership has a great deal of experience not just with dealing with planning applications generally but also dealing with larger scale applications and the process of strategic housing development over the last number of years.

The principle of subsidiarity is central to governance in planning. We have always defended this principle whereby, insofar as practicable, local planning decisions are made in an open and consultative way by competent authorities at local level. In this regard, we welcome the new measures for planning reform outlined in the proposed legislation as an important and necessary step in rebalancing the planning system in Ireland and restoring this important subsidiarity in decision-making. This is a critical issue.

As president of the Irish Planning Institute, I am pleased to have had an input into the initial working group for this legislation with the Department to consider issues that are pertinent for the replacement of the SHD process. The institute notes that many of its key recommendations to the group about incorporating successful elements in the procedural aspects of SHD, which provide greater certainty in terms of timelines and improved pre-application consultation processes, are incorporated in the general scheme. We welcome this. It is important to note that the legislation being discussed today must be considered within a broader context of a general recalibration of the planning system. As with all legislation in planning, it is important that these changes to development management processes ultimately deliver greater efficiency and consistency in development management processes across different local authorities. Along with new proposed legislation, we contend that revised planning guidelines for development management are now urgently needed.

We must also continue our transition to a democratic and collaborative plan-led system. Better and more detailed plans, at local level in particular, will provide greater certainty for development management and reduce the often adversarial nature of the development management process. This will require much greater planning effort in the future. The improved and extended processes required for large-scale residential development planning applications combined with more resourcing for plan-making will have significant resource implications.

While the institute welcomes all new measures to increase efficiency and improve the quality of planning applications and planning decision-making, it is acutely aware of chronic under-resourcing of planning departments at local level in Ireland. Some 28 out of 29 planning authorities that responded to our recent survey on planning resources cite under-resourcing of planning departments as the single biggest challenge facing planning in Ireland. That view is equally shared by the vast majority of planning consultants working in the private sector. We strongly urge the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, the Local Government Management Agency and other relevant bodies to prioritise the resourcing of local authority planning departments as a matter of urgency to ensure the smooth implementation of this new legislation.

In summary, we broadly welcome the legislation as part of a larger process of recalibration of the planning system. We highlight the urgent need for adequate resourcing of the planning system and, in particular, of local authorities. As an institute, we restate our desire to work proactively towards solutions for pressing problems in planning and housing along with colleagues in other built environment professions. We will continue to collaborate at every possible level with all stakeholders and will support every effort at national, regional and local levels to ensure there is a properly functioning and efficient planning system that works for all citizens.

I again thank the Chairman for the opportunity to come before the committee today. I will endeavour to respond to any and all questions members may have. However, if there is additional information we need to provide at a later point, we will be pleased to do so.