An Taisce, which screwed up a little itself, documents what systemic corruption and incompetence during a boom look like on the ground An Taisce recently published an independent review of planning-policy implementation in Ireland from its perspective embracing its daily experience of working in the system. It considers there was a catastrophic and systemic failure of the planning system, which was characterised by endemic corruption, lack of transparency and the marginalisation of voices that sought to draw attention to inherent weaknesses. Though few listened, An Taisce raised repeated concerns during the boom including in respect of over-zoning by councils, development on floodplains, the failure to properly protect water resources and the dominant development pattern which was talking hold – urban sprawl excessively reliant on private cars. As this development pattern was handed dominance, Ireland has been forced into high fossil fuel use, raising costs for families. An Taisce estimates that appeals taken against inappropriate speculative development has reduced the value of impaired loans by at least €505m. These are loans which the National Assets Management Agency (NAMA) would have had to purchase, or if falling outside the scope of NAMA, would remain with financial institutions as non-performing burdens – liabilities which Irish taxpayers are currently underwriting. As noted in the Mahon Report, bad or absent planning is not victimless, rather its victims are too numerous to count. There is no doubt a systemic failure of planning in Ireland helped inflate the property bubble, leaving in its wake a great deal of poor quality development, reckless overzoning, chaotic sprawl, a legacy of ‘ghost’ development and widespread environmental degradation. Of particular concern are the ‘locked in’ long-term costs of high fossil fuel dependency and greenhouse gas emissions. Despite the lack of good planning throughout this period not many planning professionals spoke out and this failure to warn was shared by the representative bodies of Irish professional planners with few exceptions. The Mahon Report exposed the systemic corruption in Irish planning. This corruption takes many forms including low level patronage, cronyism and clientelism. While the findings are no surprise, they are stark and troubling, and there is now a unified body of opinion that the planning laws must be strengthened to ensure what was recorded by Mahon cannot occur again. As recommended by the Mahon Tribunal, there must be an independent planning regulator free from political pressure. Recent changes to the planning laws in 2010 and the establishment of the National Transport Authority (NTA) are welcome advancements, but councils continue to routinely ignore national and regional planning policy and priorities at the local level. Instead of undertaking independent planning investigations of significant allegations of planning malpractice in seven councils (as previously planned by Government), the current Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogan TD, only proposes an ‘internal review’. Following the findings of the Mahon Tribunal, there is an onus on Minister Hogan to immediately recommence independent inquiries before a new planning regulator with strong legal powers is in place to undertake this function. Any ‘internal review’ is scarcely credible given that it perpetuates the hopelessly discredited model of self-regulation in which the relevant supervising Government department – here the Department of the Environment, which also pays money to, and carries responsibility for local councils – holds itself out as an impartial bystander in investigating prime facie evidence of malpractice. This is patent nonsense: the Department of the Environment has a vested interest in concluding that ‘all is fine’ in councils. It is to get away from the discredited model of self-regulation that the Mahon Report recommends an independent regulator. The worst three counties in terms of residential over-zoning were Clare (3,208 hectares), County Cork (2,500 hectares) and Donegal (2,250 hectares), which between them accounted for 20% of the entire national stock of residentially zoned land in 2010. It is remarkable to note that, despite the extent of zoned land within these counties, between 2001 and 2011 some 30% to 50% of all planning permissions in each of these three councils was for one-off housing on unzoned land. Smaller councils generally cannot justify the necessary staff to carry out increasingly complex functions, including planners, architects, conservation specialists, ecology experts, hydrology engineers, and senior personnel with a good knowledge of European and Irish law. At the same time, certain councils simply have too many councillors per capita of population, resulting in patronage, clientelism and cronyism. It is imperative that we move to a regional governance structure for planning and development with each region having a minimum population of 200,000. Otherwise the existing councils, clearly ineffective in achieving national policies and too numerous to resource, will be stripped of ever more functions. A well-intended but weak-minded defence of the current dysfunctional system has led inexorably to ever-greater power concentration in Dublin, undermining progressive localism and eroding our democracy. In line with the findings of the Mahon Report, the windfall re-zoning tax, first set out in the legislation providing for NAMA, must be further elaborated in strengthening the planning legislation. It is also vital to update planning legislation in line with the introduction of a Site Value Tax on all zoned land, as proposed under the 2011 Programme for Government. As well as replacing the current €100 household charge, Site Value Tax will provide a real incentive for the development of land that becomes zoned, and it will deter over-zoning, inappropriate zoning and the hoarding of development sites. To undertake the groundwork for these reforms, there must be properly resourced spatial planning and governance units in the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government. For example, the Spatial Planning Unit in the Department has recently been reduced to just 4 people and which is indicative of this current Government’s lack of commitment to long-term planning. Coherent joined-up planning and development minimises costs and enables society to flourish. But such prosperity is impossible without proper resourcing. Finally, enforcement continues to be the weakest link in Ireland’s weak planning system. Enforcement of any regulatory code is crucial to
