Frances Ruane: Planning framework must be founded on courage

A few people have asked for a link to this Irish Times article.

The publication of the National Planning Framework is imminent and should be a landmark event for the country. It will be published on Friday alongside the Government’s capital spending plan for the next decade. How this pans out will depend crucially on political will and leadership, and on whether the long consultation process behind the planning framework has generated a wide understanding of how good planning can ensure more regionally balanced growth. It is now 60 years since our population started to grow, following a century of decline. Despite that, we have not succeeded in the intervening period in planning for population growth and sustainable living patterns in our cities, towns and rural areas.

Read the full article @ The Irish Times

Irish planners can access eye-in-the-sky

This year Irish urban planners will be able to access a new 'Urban Atlas' satellite tool that gives the best-ever imaging of Irish cities and towns.

It will allow them to better assess risks and opportunities - ranging from flooding and impact of climate change, to identifying new infrastructure and public transport needs, the EU commission said.

Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford are the five Irish cities that have been included in the atlas.

This new tool has been produced by the EU Commission and Member States with the support of European space technology and surveys a total of 185 cities. It is intended that all cities in the EU will be covered by the Atlas by 2011. The Atlas is compiled from thousands of satellite photographs and offers a cost-effective digital mapping solution.

Commission Vice-President Guünter Verheugen, responsible for Enterprise and Industry, announced the arrival of the Atlas, saying - "European cities and municipal authorities face significant new challenges for future urban planning in the coming years and this project provides a practical and cost-effective solution for their needs. Through the use of European space technology, we will open up possibilities for mutual learning from a land use perspective and help cities make more informed investment decisions.

"The Urban Atlas demonstrates the benefit of an integrated European approach and is an excellent example of how space based applications contribute to local solutions across Europe."

The Urban Atlas is a key part of the Global Monitoring of Environment and Security (GMES) service. It is financed with the support of €1 million from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and will be fully operational by 2011.

www.buckplanning.ie

Experts warn of population congestion

DUBLIN’S population is heading for two million but anyone hoping to escape the crowded city for a rural idyll may get a lot less than they bargained for.

Experts have warned of problems brewing with the capital getting more congested while rural Ireland risks becoming one big employment blackspot.

Professor Jim Walsh of NUI Maynooth told an Environmental Protection Agency conference yesterday that if trends continued, the forecast for the rural economy, society and environment by the year 2025 would be “dismal”.

He said 43% of rural dwellers made their living in agriculture, construction or traditional manufacturing, all of which were particularly vulnerable. And he said that commuting long distances to work, normally associated with urban dwellers, was now a feature of rural life and journey times were becoming unsustainable.

Prof Walsh said the National Spatial Strategy, devised under the last government to try to even out population growth across the country by identifying ‘gateways’ and ‘hubs’ for targeted growth, would still leave very large gaps in the countryside that did not come under a cohesive development policy.

“About 43% of the total population lived beyond the commuter hinterlands of all gateways in 2002,” he said. He urged the inclusion of 19 county towns and other significant small towns to the list for development.

He also dismissed the idea that there were too many one-off houses already spoiling the countryside, pointing out that the density of single-owner dwellings was currently five per square kilometre, just one more per square kilometre than before the construction boom of the last 15 years.

He called for a review of rural development policy and expressed disappointment with past efforts. “Something that happens time and again is that we set out aspirations and don’t follow through with them. We need better governance,” he said.

Meanwhile Dublin city manager, John Tierney, told the conference of the urgent need for the capital to find ways of creating more living space within confined boundaries while also improving the quality of homes on offer.

He said on population trends, the 1.66 million living in the Greater Dublin Area would rise to 1.97m in the next nine years.

Irish Examiner

Unforeseen issues blamed for failure of decentralisation plans

The Government has failed to decentralise 8,000 civil servants, writes Stephen Rogers in Ennis.

THE Government has admitted it failed to decentralise more than 8,000 civil service staff because it did not prepare properly before announcing decentralisation in 2003.

At yesterday’s IMPACT civil service conference in Ennis, the union pointed out that 10,300 civil servants were supposed to have been relocated from Dublin to 53 centres in 25 counties before the election. To date only 2,000 have been moved.

Labour Affairs Minister, Tony Killeen addressed the union delegates, and afterwards admitted the practical implementation of decentralisation ‘has thrown up issues and problems that I don’t think anyone really foresaw’.

“It has thrown up a whole range of issues that probably were not expected. The decentralisation position of 2003 came against a background of very successful decentralisations previously, when almost in every case it was oversubscribed.

“They tended to be smaller numbers in locations that were attractive because there was not an opportunity to work there previously anyway. One of the issues in this round has been the scale of what was proposed.”

He defended decentralisation as a process that was strategically worth pursuing for the benefit of the country.

“Historically, the way it happened has not been good for Dublin or for the areas from which people migrated,” he said. “I think decision making based in a very small geographical area is not in the interest of that area or the rest of the country.

“So, I do think the principle is very good but the practical implementation has thrown up issues and problems that I don’t think anyone really foresaw.”

IMPACT National Secretary Louise O’Donnell said it was now time for a rethink, that the union was not opposed to decentralisation and had workable solutions for a programme that had ‘backed itself into a corner’.

She said stakeholders need to review each of the departments and organisations earmarked to move and look at removing those for whom decentralisation is clearly not practical or cost-effective.

An option which Tony Killeen said was being considered by government was interchangeability of roles between the semi-state or state agency sector and the public and civil service.

“He said the option had arisen in the past when technical and professional staff who would not or could not move might have been filled from the other sector.

If that is introduced to solve the decentralisation impasse, it could lead to the introduction of common terms and conditions and promotional prospects for workers in each of the sectors.

Irish Examiner

Landscape Conservation Areas and Irish planning

Landscape Conservation Areas and Irish planning

A planning authority may, by order, for the purposes of the preservation of the landscape, designate any area or place within the functional area of the authority as a landscape conservation area. Again certain prescribed developments may be subject to any conditions or restrictions. See section 204 of the Planning and Development Act 2000.