Planning goes behind closed doors

THE new Strategic Infrastructure Bill threatens the democratic principles that are the foundation stone of our planning system. It is founded on the principle that the regulation of development is a matter that should normally be settled locally.

It is based on development plans made at open meetings. Planning applications that are not in conformity with development plans are advertised so that the public are aware of the intended departure from the plan and can offer their comments.

Such applications are then determined, again at open meetings to which the public have access. To protect the public from ill-considered development, a special majority is required among elected representatives to contravene the plan. Under the terms of the bill all these decisions will be made in Dublin, behind closed doors and without any protection for democratically-made development plans.

This risks the disenfranchisement of those whom the system is meant to serve. An Bórd Pléanala conducts its business in private and its decisions are not subject to public scrutiny in the same way as similar decisions by local authorities who meet in public.

The new bill also gives An Bórd Pleanála licence to contravene democratically-made development plans without giving notice to the communities for whom they were prepared and without any special justification being required. We all want quicker decisions. This bill asks citizens to relinquish their rights to a local democratic planning system, where development plans are protected because they provide an important check on ill-advised decisions.

In return, it offers a process remote from the location of the development that guarantees no certainty of speedy decisions. Indeed, taking decisions away from local communities and giving them to An Bórd Pleanála, against whom there is no appeal, could result in even more challenges in the courts.

The bill suggests the proposed new powers for the planning board are driven by “the national interest.” We should be concerned that the national interest may not be well served by a dilution of local democracy with a system where there is no open forum for decision-making. These are my personal views and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Irish Planning Institute.

Andrew Hind

Vice President

Irish Planning Institute

Station Cottage

Carrigaloe

Cobh

Co Cork