Spatial strategy a ‘waste of time’, says planning chief

THE blueprint for developing our villages, towns and cities lacks long-term vision and is “a waste of time”, a planning conference heard yesterday.

Our National Spatial Strategy has fast become "a devalued currency" and planning is the antithesis of what it should be, said Iain Douglas, president of the Irish Planning Institute (IPI).

Speaking on the opening day of the National Planning Conference in Mullingar, Mr Douglas said: "The planning agenda in Ireland is still being driven by short-term perspectives. The Government is clearly equivocating in its acceptance of the National Spatial Strategy through the overtly political gerrymandering of decentralisation, with National Spatial Strategy gateway/hubs accounting for only one quarter of the decentralised jobs, and through the guidelines on rural housing."

The lack of overall vision in planning is apparent in the investment in water and sewerage infrastructure in rural towns and villages, positive moves which are then wrecked by the free-for-all housing promoted by the rural housing guidelines, he said.

"The commitment of Government to long-term strategic planning has to be questioned, as does the political will to redress regional imbalance in Ireland today."

Mr Douglas said this is the very time planners should prove their worth, emphasising the importance of having a vision for the future. "The mediation and negotiation skills of planners will become increasingly important. The planner's role is becoming more demanding than at any time in the past," he said.