Development pressure threatens ‘planning system collapse’

THE planning system is at risk of buckling under the pressure of unprecedented development in Ireland, the country’s planners warned yesterday.

Planners are demanding their ranks be swelled further if they are to cope with the huge strain of trying to manage the country’s concrete sprawl.

In the first census of its kind for a decade, the Irish Planning Institute said it has uncovered a system that is on the brink of being unable to deal with the workload.

“The existing situation where some staff are by default carrying unreasonable work burdens and working under severe pressure must be addressed.”

Although local authorities have more than tripled the number of planners nationwide over the past 10 years planning applications are up by 180% over the same period.

The institute insists applications are now more complex than ever, which has cancelled out benefits of the staff hike.

There are about 600 professional planners in local government, 100 in other areas of the public sector and 300-plus in private practice.

The institute is worried that only a quarter of local government planning staff take charge of forward planning, while just 5% are involved in enforcement.

“Enforcement is the most under-resourced area of the planning service and a source of continued frustration for the public, particularly in the area ofunfinished housing estates, quarries and other unauthorised developments”, the report states.

The absence of any senior planners in Carlow County Council, Waterford County Council and Kerry County Council comes in for criticism while the Government is rebuked for employing planners in only one department — Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

Henk van der Kamp, President of the institute, said that in addition to the present problems, the system is also faced with having to adapt to a rapidly changing environment.

“As Ireland has been coping with population growth of on average of more than 60,000 each year, we require to build more houses in brownfield, high-density developments and less houses in greenfield, low-density developments,” he added.

These developments require much more planning work if the country is to be saved from a development catastrophe.

“Ironically, the need for the better-quality urban environment is not only aluxury that our society can now afford, but also a pressing need driven byenvironmental and economic concerns,” said Mr van der Kamp.

Irish Examiner