Report flags Donegal planning record as worst in country

Donegal has the worst planning record in the country, An Taisce has claimed.

The county was one of nine – Roscommon, Leitrim, Kerry, Mayo, Galway County, Cavan, Carlow and Waterford – warned they have failed the test for good decisions on housing and development.

An Taisce’s report said Donegal had about 2,250 hectares of residential land in 2010, enough for a population increase of 180,000 but half of all planning permissions over the past decade were granted on unzoned land.

Charles Stanley-Smith, An Taisce spokesman, said the legacy of bad planning will affect people living in the areas, and Irish society, for many generations.

“Bad planning is not victim free. The analysis shows that there is a very strong correlation between councils that have scored poorly and a range of negative socio-economic and environmental outcomes,” he said.

An Taisce checked the record of 34 city and county councils using several factors including the percentage of planning decisions appealed to An Bord Pleanala reversed, vacant housing stock, one-off housing and land rezoned.

The association called for an independent planning regulator, free from political pressure.

The report, State of the Nation: Ireland’s Planning System 2000-2011, gave four councils a C – South Dublin, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Galway City and Fingal while 13 got a D grade and eight received an E grade.

Five received an F grade, Mayo, Galway County, Cavan, Carlow, and Waterford County, while four councils received an F minus grade including Donegal, Roscommon, Leitrim, and Kerry.

An Taisce said that the problems experienced in Donegal were symptomatic of the wider issues also identified in Roscommon Leitrim and Kerry.

No council achieved an A or B grade.