Strategic flaws led to our fossil fuel dependence

The national spatial strategy — not just the final frontier, but a step too far where the country’s local authorities and planners were concerned.

An Taisce’s report into the planning systems in 34 city and county councils found massive flaws in various elements of planning policy and implementation. Among the errors was ignoring the strategy, leading to development sprawl the report said had created a “dangerously fossil fuel dependent society” that was the second most oil dependent country in the EU.

Published in 2002, the strategy was, in the words of the An Taisce study, “the way things were supposed to be”: a plan-led approach to the development of the country. It was a blueprint for avoiding urban sprawl, with regional gateways developing in coordination with a national strategy.