Mr. Gavin Lawlor:

I thank the Chair and the committee for offering us the opportunity to talk about the draft planning and development Bill. I am a member of the Irish Planning Institute and the vice president of the institute, and I am accompanied by Mr. Philip Jones, who is a fellow of the institute and who chairs its policy and research committee; and Dr. Seán O'Leary, who is a member of the institute and its senior planner.

The institute represents more than 1,000 planners on the island of Ireland across the public and private sectors, with members of the IPI working in every local authority, An Bord Pleanála, central Government, regional assemblies, in private practice as consultants, for large developers and for semi-State organisations. Our members have first-hand knowledge across a range of backgrounds and sectors of the planning process and current legislation, and know its faults as well as its successes.

The institute was represented on the planning and advisory forum, and made two detailed submissions to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage in 2022, copies of which have been attached to our submission, and which cover some of the key points in the legislation.

Once the draft Bill was published, we invited our members to make detailed submissions on it. These have informed this statement, and we also intend to provide a more detailed submission, section by section, to the Department in due course and this can be made available to this committee also. This will be constructive and will draw from the membership’s day to day experiences of operating the system.

In the institute’s view, there are some important principles against which to judge the proposed legislation. The entire purpose of the planning system should ensure the proper planning and sustainable development of our country. We welcome that the term "sustainable development" is defined for the first time in the Bill, and that the role of the planning system is to balance social, economic and environmental considerations in the interests of the common good.

The planning system should be plan-led. We welcome many of the changes set out in Part 3 of the Bill, including the move to a ten-year time horizon, but we have some concerns about the timelines for preparation of these plans, which appear not to have changed, despite the many additional responsibilities on local authorities since 2000 and the Planning and Development Act 2000.

The role of the public, not only in meaningful participation at plan-making process, but also in the development management process, should be respected. This is a complex area which needs careful consideration. It is a long-established and cherished feature of the Irish planning system that there is full provision for third party rights, and in the institute’s view this must be retained and enhanced in the Bill. We have a number of concerns in this area, particularly in relation to declarations or referrals on exempted development, Part 2, on enforcement, Part 11, and about proposals in the Bill to restrict access to justice, especially for citizens with limited resources, Part 9.

The principle of subsidiarity, where decisions are made at the lowest possible level, is important, and in this regard we welcome the abolition of the strategic housing development, SHD, process, and the return of most normal planning consents to local authorities. We hope that this may lead to a reduction in recourse to the courts.

We have concerns about some aspects of the Bill, including the fact that it is unclear whether it provides, as the current Act does, for development contribution schemes, which were adopted by elected members, and which formed an important source of revenue for the provision of local infrastructure to support development generally in each county.

Of course, if the planning system is to work effectively and efficiently in the interests of all of our citizens, it has to be properly resourced, which it manifestly is not at present. The Bill includes many additional responsibilities and actions, which will increase the workload in both the public and private sectors, and these will clearly require more resources. While the principle of defined timelines for development management is recognised, such timelines must reflect the complexities of the cases involved.

Ultimately, delivering on the potential of the Bill cannot realistically be achieved unless substantial further resources, not least additional planners, planning administrators and other specialists such as ecologists, geographical information system, GIS specialists, and marine scientists etc., are recruited both in local authorities and An Bord Pleanála, or An Comisiún Pleanála as it is called in the new Bill. The funding of these resources should be explicitly dealt with in the Bill.

In the interest of brevity, we have not outlined proposed alternative wordings for each of the individual sections of the Bill, but hopefully our key issues can be outlined in discussions that follow.

It is disappointing that as planning practitioners we have had a limited input to date in the detailed drafting of much of the practical aspects of the Bill. As noted, we will be making a further written submission to the Department following consultation with our members, and trust this will be listened to as representing the views of the professionals who will be implementing the final Act. We also hope the expertise and planning judgment of planners will be further respected once enacted.

We are happy to address any questions that the committee members may have, and should the committee wish to further engage with the Irish Planning Institute on any aspect of today’s discussion or the legislation, we would be happy to assist in any way possible.