The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) Ireland has welcomed the publication of the draft Planning and Development Bill. The Institute – the professional body for planners across Ireland and the UK – said the new bill will provide an opportunity to show the positive role that planners make in dealing with issues that affect people’s lives.
Valerie Brennan, Chair of RTPI Ireland, said: “Planning aims to find balanced solutions to complex matters and do so in the interests of the common good. The Bill allows for a debate on how to maximise and recognise the added value that planning, planners, and the planning system bring to stimulating economic growth, environmental protection, community empowerment, climate resilience, and social justice.
“The Bill offers a chance to state a clear sense of purpose about how and why planning generates long-term benefits and helps to deliver great places for people to live and thrive. It also presents a timely opportunity to think ahead about how a refocused planning system might best enable the kind of society we want in the future.
“We are currently considering the details contained in the Bill and will then be looking to constructively engage with our members, government and the Oireachtas during its development.”
