This week's Autumn Irish Planning Institute conference was an interesting event. Public and private sector planners find themselves together discussing the development management process for which both are critical actors. They have each enjoyed much the same education and may have been in the same class in college. There is in fact almost no difference between them. The only difference is that some are paid by the state and the private sector others by clients (some of which are public sector clients).
Some public sector planners appreciate private sector planners are under pressure, work hard, and do their best to deliver projects for them to review. They understand that private sector planners have clients for whom they must make the best case they can and that, as with legal defence teams, every client deserves representation.
Others, however, are suspicious of all contact with private sector planners. Over recent years, the Irish Planning Institute has had a private sector Senior Planner as President. I hope this has shown that private sector planners are important members of the profession. I fear however that many private sector planners experience interactions with public sector planners whereby they are viewed as always trying to court favour - even when saying hello with a coffee cup in hand. This is not the case. It is a failing of our planning system that public sector planners often feel the need to retain a fire wall between themselves and private sector colleagues.
In other countries which maintain similar planning systems, the assessment of some planning applications is often tendered out to private firms, individual private planners may be contracted for short or long periods, etc. Planners can be both private and public workers. Indeed, one of the features of An Bord Pleanála (now "the Commission") some years ago was that it offered qualified and experienced planners work on a 'fee per case' basis. However, most of this work went to private planners who had considerable public sector work experience (for example, lecturer taking on some 'on the side' work), as though private sector work experience was of a lower quality, less deserving, or somehow tainted.
One of the issues in Ireland that is causing problems with delivery is insufficient numbers of public sector planners, yet there are also shortfalls in the numbers of private sector planners. Delivery on national, regional, and local planning objectives requires both kinds. There is a growing need for planners to be able to move in and out of the public and private sectors to fill given roles for given periods. However, while it is not difficult to move from private sector to public sector in the early years of a given career, i.e. after graduating from a planning qualification, usually someone in their 20s, this becomes more and more difficult. Private planners with significant capacity to help Ireland deliver projects - the very ones with the experience often lacking in the public sector - find it hard to move into senior roles in the public sector. A Senior Planner in a private firm seldom, if ever, moves into a Senior Planner role in a local authority. I am open to receiving an email confirming one case where this has taken place in circumstances where the private planner had no previous public sector experience (but 20 -30 years of private experience).
Roles in the public sector should not be subjected to gate keeping requirements of a minimum number of years in the public sector. Eminently qualified and experienced, high performance, private sector planners turn up to interviews for public sector roles to be asked why they have not worked in the public sector at all or for more years. This is as though the skills of a private sector planner are somehow less than those of a public sector planner (who may have never prepared and lodged a planning application, but has only ever worked on the manicured and packaged planning applications prepared by the private sector to meet the many requirements of validation and so on).
Specialist planning barristers have normally never worked as a planning officer or inspector yet their opinions and views on planning are widely respected. Why is there less respect for private planners who often in fact have more experience and knowledge of Irish planning than such barristers?
There are many reasons for this, but, in the end, it comes down to distrust. The distrust between public planning officials and private sector planners often stems from differing incentives, perceived biases, and systemic issues in the planning process. While there’s no comprehensive study specifically addressing this dynamic in Ireland, insights from planning practices, stakeholder interactions, and related commentary provide a clear picture. Below, I outline the key reasons for this distrust, focusing on the Irish context where possible, and drawing on broader planning dynamics.
Public planning officials are tasked with safeguarding the public interest, balancing development with environmental, social, and community needs under frameworks like the Planning and Development Act 2000. Private sector planners, employed by developers or consultancies, prioritise their clients’ interests—often securing approvals for projects. This creates a perception among public officials that private planners may cherry-pick data or present overly optimistic assessments to favour project approval. I have heard a public sector planners tell stories of how private sector planners are "wrong" in, for example, a section 5 application covering letter. They fail to see that the job of the private planner is to argue a client's case to the best of their ability. One would not expect a criminal defence team to set out both sides of the case. That a planner can set out both sides of the case is obvious, but, again, many public sector planners consider submissions from private planners to represent their personal opinion. Does every public sector planner consider every recommendation they have made in their career to align with their own opinion? No. Of course not. Both are working as planners for their respective employers.
Some public sector planners clearly believe that certain clients do not deserve representation. Further, I have been criticised in the past for representing given clients, yet criminal barristers working defence take on clients who are often later judged to have carried out heinous crimes. Has any Irish private planner ever represented a client of any equivalence to this? Should private planners be able ethically to turn down any client they dislike? Do prosecution teams dislike defence teams merely because of the clients they represent? Ethnically, both public and private planners must reasonably work on any planning case they are presented with. How many public sector planners have ever refused to assess a given planning application? Other than for reasons of conflict of interest, I am not sure there are any such cases.
Public officials often deal with planning applications of varying quality from private planners, which public officials may attribute to private planners cutting corners to meet client deadlines or budgets. In reality private sector planners can only present details and drawings provided to them by a client and their project team. Not every planning application can be gold plated. Not every project will be financed in a manner which allows the very best experts, architects, etc. to be involved. Further, not every private planning firm is the same; not all have the resources of the larger firms. Private planners are left to make their case with what they have. It is the role of the public sector planner to decide if this is or is not sufficient. It should not reflect well or badly on the private planner who is only doing their job.
Private planners often work under pressure to deliver outcomes for developers, which can lead to lobbying or attempts to influence planning decisions by those developers. Public planners, aware of this, often see the private sector planner on the team as being one and the same with the client developer. This is not the case. Private planners are tools being used by clients. They are consultants. That a project appears in a newspaper does not mean a private planner put if there or agrees - on a personal level - with that article.
I have had conversations with public sector planners where they have highlight concerns about developers exploiting regulatory gaps, yet the fact that these gaps often exist is not the fault of any Irish private planner. I have called for up to date wind and solar planning guidelines for some time yet they remain out of date or non-existent. Private planners are left to fill the gaps. Public planners see developers as enabled by private planners’ advocacy yet how else can many projects proceed in the absence of any guidance? This dynamic can create an adversarial relationship, with public planners viewing their private counterparts as prioritising profit over public good. Yet, again, private planners are normally working on a consultancy basis only to manage an increasingly complicated planning system.
Community consultation is critical in Irish planning, especially for contentious projects like wind farms. Public officials often find that private planners’ engagement with locals is superficial, designed to “tick boxes” rather than address concerns like visual blight or property impacts. At the same time, public sector planners may receive hundreds of objections to a planning application and still grant planning permission. Both public and private planners know when there are and are not genuine third party concerns arising.
Historically, planning in Ireland has seen public officials as gatekeepers of regulatory integrity, while private planners are seen as external actors with less accountability to long-term public outcomes. This divide is exacerbated when private planners, often better resourced, produce detailed but selectively framed reports that overwhelm understaffed public planning departments. While I sympathise with public sector planners that the scale of many planning applications are almost overwhelming, it is necessary to remember that these applications are normally prepared and presented by private sector planners who are just as overwhelmed but are constantly faced with validation issues, criticisms that some point has not received sufficient attention, etc. The fact is that both public and private planners are impacted by the growing complexity of planning applications in this country. I invite a public sector planner to try preparing a substitute consent planning application at this time. The guidance and the regulatory framework has constantly changed in recent years and continues to change.
Private planners’ submissions often lead to appeals or judicial reviews when rejected, as developers challenge public decisions. The high rate of appeals to An Coimisiún Pleanála, particularly for renewable projects, suggests public officials face pressure to make defensible decisions against well-funded private challenges. This adversarial process breeds distrust, as public officials perceive private planners as enabling litigation rather than fostering collaborative solutions. This is, in the end, the planning process. As with the courts, of course a decision made by a local authority to refuse a large planning application is likely to be appealed, as would a significant case first heard in the lower courts. It is merely a matter of process. It is however worth noting that private planners likely have far more experience in the totality of the planning process.
To address this, Ireland could:
Define the role of "planner" in legislation: This would, as with the term "architect" make clear that this is a protected and understood role and profession. This would make the skills and experience of a planner the focus and not years of local authority or public service.
Alter job description requirements: Local authorities and the Commission could alter the requirements applicable to job applicants to accept years as a private planner as equivalent to those as a public planner.
Revise the Development Management Guidelines: Revised guidelines could set out the roles of public and private sector planners in the development management process.
Training and Resources: There is a need to address the perception that exists around public and private sector planning experience being different when it is one and the same. Private sector planners seeking to enter the public sector should not be disadvantaged by perceptions.
In conclusion, work is needed to ensure that Irish planners - public and private - are deemed to both play critical roles in Irish planning. A planners skillset and experience should qualify him or her for any planning role if they are deemed suitable. There should be no gate keeping arising from 'years on the job' type recruitment in the public sector. We need the best planners to work hard delivering a critical service for this country. A decision to work in the private or public sector for part of a career should not prejudice whether one can then move into or out of public or private sector roles to suit the country's needs. The issues outlined above are all ones of perception. Irish Planning Institute conferences are for planners - the public/private divide is imagined. If I required surgery, I would want the best surgeon to operate regardless of whether they were primarily a private or a public sector surgeon.
Article compiled by BPS Planning & Development Consultants
