Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I fully concur with Senator Casey. He has given a great overview on it and I agree with his commentary relating to our city and county councillors.It is a little unfair to come into the House and cast aspersion on the work they do. There are processes.

I will finish off my contribution on the Office of the Planning Regulator. I thank the Library and Research Service for its pre-legislative scrutiny of, and commentary on the select principal provisions in, the Planning and Development Bill. The service always does excellent work and it is important we acknowledge that. I will make reference to, and share observations on, two issues relating to the Office of the Planning Regulator. The expansion of the office's oversight and the increase in the authority of the Minister to issue directives under the new provisions of the Planning and Development Bill could reduce the decision-making powers of county councils in specific areas. The Association of Irish Local Government, AILG, expressed concern that the Bill reinforces a centralised planning structure with the county development plan locked into a rigid national and regional planning framework. It argues that the increase in the authority of the Office of the Planning Regulator would curtail the discretion of councillors in shaping their local areas on the basis of their practical understanding of local needs and capabilities. That is just commentary, but I happen to share many of those concerns. Our sitting county councillors have that local context and awareness of local need and local understanding, which they have gained through years of experience. Most of them live in their own communities. Some 99% of councillors live in the community they represent, which is unique among local government in Europe. That is the case and it is worth pointing out.

The AILG has also stated that the limiting of local authority powers is not in line with the recommendations of the Congress of Local and Regional Assemblies of the Council of Europe. We discussed that issue at great length at the Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage, which is currently discussing its report. One of the recurring themes has been this view that local government is at an all-time low in Ireland in the European context. Much of that was dealt with in the European Charter of Local Self-Government.

I earlier failed to address the amendment of mine in this group, which is amendment No. 3. It was my fault that I did not get the chance to speak to it. The amendment contains a proposal for a chief planning officer, who may be referred to as the chief city planning officer or the chief county planning officer. That was my proposal. Where did I get that? It was not an idea I had myself. We picked that up from some of the joint committee's consultation. At the committee, we heard about the Scottish model and I will share a little bit about that model with the Seanad. There are a number of local authority directors of planning who are not planners and have no experience in planning. I am not going to single them out but some of us know who they are. That is not to cast aspersions on their ability. I understand the reform of local government. When directors of service were introduced, the chief executive was left to decide on the portfolios that were to be apportioned to the various members. It is absurd, however, that directors of planning have no qualification or experience in planning. We would not pick a director of finance for a local authority if he or she had no experience of finance. We would not ask people to be county architects if they had no knowledge of architecture, engineering or a similar discipline. It is one of the real shortcomings of this Bill that it does not address the issue by putting in place a city or county chief planner, depending on the local authority in question. I am not suggesting a chief planner would be below a chief executive. I am suggesting a chief planner would be parallel with a chief executive. It is not that the chief executive of an authority would direct the director of planning to do anything or respond to issues around planning. I know the chief executive has executive powers. It may not be appropriately included in this Bill, but I am looking for a favourable response from the Minister on the concept that each county and city would have a chief planner to make decisions. This is one of the missing links. As I said the other day, most councillors are not planners, architects or engineers.This is why they need independent expert advice, guidance and assistance when required. They want to work in unison with people and they want to work with their executives. That is really important. I was a councillor myself, as were most people here. One of the key ways to get things done is to collaboratively work with the chief executive and the management team of the council.

I want to share some issues regarding the experience in Scotland. We heard these issues through the Oireachtas joint committee when we considered this Bill. The Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997, as amended, requires that each planning authority must appoint a chief planner. The appointment of the role of chief planner became a statutory requirement in April 2024 in order to advise authorities on the planning and other functions relating to the development. While I am citing the example of Scotland here, it is another jurisdiction very close by and it is a system that seems to be working. It was in a development stage for some years prior to April 2024. The chief planner is to help strengthen leadership, planning and corporate recognition of the importance of positive influence and planning within the relevant local authority. The legislation refers to the chief planner and how it contributes to the corporate ambitions and the wider aims of the national planning framework. It will have responsibility for that. There is a statutory requirement in the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019, which introduced new requirements that each planning authority would have a chief planner and the ministers would issue guidance. It is not us making guidance. It is still the power of the Minister to issue guidance and direction in legislation in this regard.

The chief planner's duties and responsibilities are that the chief planner would play a key role in the leadership of the local authority's vision, strategic direction of the planning authority and carrying out its strategic role that works to raise the profile of the planning authority's decisions. The chief planner is to be the ambassador for the profession, for the planning and advising of the authority, for carrying out the functions conferred on them by virtue of the planning Acts and relevant legislation and any functions conferred on him or her by the minister. They will be professional advisers to the local authority as a whole, on spatial and place-based implications, decisions and investments in the short, medium and long term. This entails providing relevant professional planning advice and support to the elected members of the council. The chief planner will work to deliver the current national priorities. I am in favour of delivering the national priorities. I do not think anyone in this Chamber is against that.

The chief planner will work on the strategies and will ensure that local and private priorities are aligned with the national level planning guidelines. This is really important. The chief planner will support place-making ambitions. We have talked about all of this. There are many synergies between what they are doing there and what we plan to do and have started to do already. Place-making ambitions of the authority and actions of the authority would be championed through the chief planner. The chief planner will be the head of the profession in the organisation of the local authority. This entails being at a point of contact with the stakeholders. Again, this is important. The chief planner will lead in ensuring planning authority embeds continuous improvement. In doing this, he or she will ensure that the planning authority undertakes its obligations to publish its annual reports and present them to the relevant departments and ministers. It is about advancing the science and the art of planning. It is a strong discipline and profession and we need them in our local authorities.

It talks about skills, etc. It talks about collaborative work with key stakeholders, particularly the elected members, to promote and achieve the authority's objectives. These are all important points. In conclusion, the chief planner should be able to demonstrate experience and leadership, develop and maintain relationships with the elected members, provide an interface between the elected members, officials and the planning authority and develop and maintain effective and productive working relationships with the internal and external stakeholders. In essence, it is a multidisciplinary team that is working collaboratively and in partnership with the council executive and the elected members to ensure that the objectives of their city and county development plans are achieved. That is what it is about; it is about achieving things.

I would like to think that we can support the concept. It may not be possible but I want to hear what the Minister of State has to say regarding incorporating this Bill. It is worthy of support and I will continue to try to champion it. Certainly, people who came through the Irish Planning Institute and other organisations told the Oireachtas joint committee when we discussed this Bill, that they favoured this type of measure and it is an important one. I will conclude on the point that we can no longer allow or permit non-qualified, untrained planners to be heading up our planning departments in local government.