Sir, - In the context of the public concern and debate about the zoning of land, there is frequent misunderstanding about the respective roles of professional advisers, such as planners and elected representatives in the planning process, and particularly in relation to the zoning of land for development.
Planning is about making choices between different courses of action, and is therefore about decision-making. Many of these decisions are strategic. Planning and professional planners can improve the quality of the decisions by setting out the various options open and the consequences of adopting each of those options. But the actual decision-making is the role of the democratically elected public representative, not the planner. While planners see it as their role to advise on strategic choices in planning, such as decisions on how much land to zone for development or in what locations, they do not consider it their role to make those decisions.
Decisions on development plan issues are ideally a perfect example of local democracy in action. However, the public who elect their representatives have the right to expect the final decisions to reflect full consideration of issues relating to planning and, where professional planning advice is not followed, that the basis for this is clear and founded upon planning principles.
The Irish Planning Institute clearly supports the division of functions between professional planners and elected representatives laid down in the current planning legislation. However, where decisions by elected representatives on the zoning of land are contrary to professional advice given to them, the institute considers that these decisions must be clearly and explicitly related to the proper planning and development of the area.
The institute considers that amendments to planning legislation which would make this mandatory would be desirable. It has made a detailed submission on this point in relation to the recent review of planning legislation. - Yours, etc.,
PRO, Irish Planning Institute, Dublin 2.