It's time for a public debate on planning
FEW issues in Limerick are as contentious as planning, particularly in the county.
In the runup to the local elections in June, the majority of candidates acknowledged that it was a key issue on very many doorsteps.
And there are those, among them some county councillors, who contend that we are, as a nation and as a county, "over-planned". We need less red-tape, less regulations, less guidelines, they argue, and more facilitation.
Some of these arguments are likely to surface again over the next few months as county councillors and planners begin the long and involved process of drawing up a new county development plan.
This, whether we like it or not, whether we engage in it or not, is an extremely important, and mandatory, process which will determine the guidelines for planning and development in the county up to 2017. And the fact that the plan is being drawn up at a very difficult time in the economic and social development of our county only underlines its importance.
Recovery can only come through planning – and planning is vital to take advantage of the upturn in the economy, when it comes. But planning cannot become, and must not be allowed to become, a free-for-all.
A balance must be struck between the interests of land-owners and developers and the interests of the public, between the need to support and promote development and the social good. That is the essence of good planning.
It may well be, as Cllr Kevin Sheahan warns in another part of this week's Limerick Leader, that new planning regulations coming down the track will be detrimental to development in Co Limerick. Let's have a thorough argument about this new legislation.
Above all, let's have a very public debate about it – and about the new county development plan. There is ample opportunity given to members of the public to get involved in the process – through attending information meetings and making submissions and observations. Let's use that opportunity – for our county and for our future.
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Thursday 17 May 2012
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