Development Planning Authorities
INTRODUCTION
The Planning and Development Act in 2000 provides a statutory basis for the making of local area plans, using a shorter but similar process to that used for more extensive city and county development plans. Since the introduction of the Act, planning authorities have been required to produce their statutory plans through a process that involves greater public input at earlier stages. As a result, planning authorities are now instructed to develop a somewhat more participatory approach to planning than was previously the case. One of the reasons for this is that the traditional models of planning policy-making that have been used in Ireland, on the basis of anecdotal evidence at least, have led to high levels of dissatisfaction amongst communities, elected members, representative organisations and public officials alike.
However, changes within a European and International context, especially those relating to sustainable development, have also contributed to and influenced the move towards increased levels of participation in local development processes. The 1998 Aarhus Convention demands that public authorities guarantee rights of access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters. The Aarhus Convention represents a significant step forward in recognising that the public have a right to participate in environmental decisions, which have the potential to affect them. This change in mindset is also reflected in the Local Agenda 21 Agreement, which essentially calls for local authorities to enter into dialogue with their citizens, in order to encourage local action and the cultural and behavioural change required for sustainable development. It acknowledges that environmental issues are best handled with the participation of all concerned citizens (United Nations, 1992).
With this in mind, local authorities appear to be embracing new models of planning - models which are built to facilitate increased participation levels during the development plan process. Galway County Council is one such local authority, who, after being approached by Kinvara Community Council in November 2000 about the need to prepare a development plan for their area, agreed to become involved in a pilot community-planning project. An essential aspect of the project was the involvement of Galway County Council as the sponsor of the project, which essentially came about after a realisation on their part that the existing top-down local authority led system of plan preparation had severe limitations in terms of facilitating high levels of public participation.
During a normal Local Area Plan process, the relevant planning authority prepare a draft plan for an area and this plan is put on public display to facilitate the receipt of submissions and comments from members of the public. These submissions will then be taken into account by the planning authority, amendments will be made as necessary and the elected members then adopt the plan. In Kinvara, a community plan, or Integrated Area Plan was developed by the community themselves, in partnership with Galway County Council, through a collaborative process called Integrated Area Planning (IAP). This model was developed by Tipperary Institute, which was also involved as facilitators of the process. As the IAP Process is not statutory and not recognised by the Planning and Development Act 2000, the final IAP document was not binding. In order to make the document statutory, it was transferred to Galway County Council who made some amendments and the document then became a Draft Local Area Plan for Kinvara that went on public display. The rest of the process then followed normal Local Area Plan procedures.
The idea of a collaborative approach to planning in Ireland is a relatively new concept and one, which is still in its infancy, therefore little research has been carried out to assess the impacts of using such a model. Using the model and process used in Kinvara as case study, the purpose of this research is to assess, from a community perspective, the merits of using this highly participative, collaborative planning process, and to examine the extent to which this process influences the statutory Local Area Plan (LAP) process and its outcomes. (The outcomes refer to the LAP itself as well as its subsequent implementation).
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