Mr. George Hussey:

I apologise on behalf of the council’s chairperson, Ms Marie Donnelly, who is unable to attend today. We thank the committee for the opportunity to speak on the importance of climate targets as part of the current review of the national planning framework, NPF. I am the secretariat manager of the council. The council is an independent advisory body tasked with assessing and advising on how Ireland can achieve the transition to a climate-resilient, biodiversity-rich, environmentally sustainable and climate-neutral economy.

We welcome this opportunity to have a conversation on the current review of the NPF. The council noted in its 2023 annual review that planning reform will be required to remove barriers to policy implementation in a number of sectors, with a need for the new NPF in particular to better reflect our climate ambitions. The council welcomes the roadmap published on the revision to the NPF, as provided for in the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, and the focus on the climate transition, demographics and digitisation as part of the review. The council also welcomes the planning advisory forum established to input to the evolving policy and legal agenda and will provide any relevant advice on the aspects of the revision relevant to meeting our national climate objective over the coming months, as requested.

The council wrote to the heads of the Government in May 2023 in respect of a number of elements of the planning system that will be crucial to address to meet our climate ambition on the topics of renewable electricity, spatial development and resourcing of the planning system. In summary, the council noted in its letter that the review of the NPF offers an opportunity to rethink how Ireland approaches compact growth, increasing both its ambition and specificity in terms of how it is measured; that, in respect of the decarbonisation of our electricity system, the renewable electricity spatial policy framework will be crucial, with a need for a plan-led approach to renewable development consistent with national targets; and that it will be challenging to address the many interdependencies between climate action and planning without addressing the historical underfunding of the planning process and ensuring sufficient resources are in place.

The council also outlined a number of recommendations in respect of planning policy and decarbonisation in its 2023 annual review, some of which I will now present to the committee. First, the compact growth target in the current NPF is insufficiently ambitious in its effort to facilitate the low-carbon transition in the transport sector. The review of the NPF needs to reassess how Ireland approaches compact growth and how it is measured from a spatial perspective. The council has also noted that more effort is required to ensure the compact growth target is met in all counties, especially in the catchment area of cities. As noted by the expert group for the first revision of the NPF, even if current objectives can be met, they still allow between 50% and 70% of all new homes to be built at greenfield locations. The expert group has noted that particular attention should be paid to reporting and monitoring progress on this issue, which the council strongly supports.

Second, poor economic incentives for urban brownfield and infill development need to be addressed to limit further urban sprawl, along with the development of improved incentives for urban living and the revitalisation of vacant urban buildings. This should be closely linked to principles for transport-oriented development and the regeneration of our towns and cities.

Third, in regard to electricity, the council noted that spatial planning guidance will be required to support the scaled-up deployment of renewable electricity throughout the country. Local authority climate action plans and development plans will need to be updated in early 2024 to provide for a plan-led approach to renewable development consistent with national targets. In addition, the council noted that the new revised onshore wind energy development guidelines should be well articulated to provide clarity for developments and need to be published as soon as possible to support the delivery of onshore wind energy targets.

Fourth, in regard to transport, the council noted that Ireland’s transport system needs to make accessible and sustainable transport modes more attractive, with a shift away from car dependency through consideration of the proximity between people and places in land use and housing planning. Long-term transport emission reductions through the avoid-shift-improve framework and congestion alleviation are closely linked to spatial planning, and measures in this sector should include consideration of settlement patterns to shift travel behaviours. Sustainable residential development can reduce transport demand and can also reduce the cost of the provision of low-carbon services such as public transport and district heating, along with having co-benefits for air, noise and safety.

The council notes there is a need to ensure there is an alignment between the framework and all other related policy documents. Once the NPF review process has concluded, a number of parties in the broader system will be critical to ensure its implementation aligns with our climate goals. This will, for example, include the further development of regional spatial and economic strategies by the regional assemblies, the development of local authority climate action plans, city and county development plans, metropolitan area strategic plans and local planning decisions. The Office of the Planning Regulator will also play a critical role in the assessment of local authority and regional assembly statutory plans to ensure alignment with the objectives of the revised NPF and to ensure plans provide for planning and sustainable development.

Further to the review, it will be important to develop an evidence base to support planning authorities at all levels to quantify the impact of spatial planning policies on greenhouse gas emissions in a consistent way, such as to assess the impact of decisions on transport demand and the impact of time-limited planning consents for wind farms and timelines for repowering on the potential loss of onshore wind capacity. The decarbonisation of our electricity system will require an additional 12 GW of onshore renewable wind and solar generation by 2030, which will be essential to reduce costs for consumers by avoiding imports of expensive fossil fuels and in the decarbonisation of our homes and businesses through the electrification of heat and transport.

The council also notes the importance of the review of urban boundaries and built-up areas carried out as part of the census 2022 process, which uses a land use, land cover-based definition for the definition of boundaries and is a critical input to evidence-based decision-making in this area, and monitoring urban development into the future.

Strong political support at all levels will be required in terms of both ambition setting and implementation to ensure the planning system as a whole is aligned with climate goals and there is strong oversight and implementation of the principles of the NPF. Community engagement will also be essential for critical infrastructure projects as it promotes transparency, trust and collaboration.

We are now in year three of the first carbon budget. Increased ambition and accelerated action are needed if we are to stay within our carbon budget and meet our 2050 targets. The national planning framework will play a critical role in this regard and the council strongly recommends that the draft NPF revision and consultation process between quarter 4 2023 and quarter 1 2024 further consider our national climate objective as a critical area of focus in its proposed changes, along with alignment with Ireland’s carbon budgets.

The council is happy to assist the committee in its deliberations and with the overall NPF review process. I look forward to our discussions.