Clare planning system not working, say architects

Clare County Council's planning system is not working and needs to be overhauled, according a letter submitted by a group of architects.

In a joint letter to the council's acting director for planning, Liam Conneally, the architects say they are "totally frustrated by lack of consistency, poor management structure, lack of productive dialogue, poor communication and absence of a rational, coherent, consistent and common sense approach to planning within the council".

The architects have told Mr Conneally they see little point in holding any further Agents Liaison Group (ALG) meetings with the planning department "until there has been a significant and tangible overhaul of the present system, which, in our view, is clearly not working".

Sixteen architects signed the letter and they include many who lead Clare's largest practices: Tom Byrne, Paul Conway, Michael Leahy, Victor Leyden, Dermot Merry, Siobhán Mulcahy, Cyril O'Reilly and Kostas Wootis.

In their letter, also circulated to Minister for the Environment Dick Roche and council members, the architects express concern "about the lack of dialogue and heavy-handed manner in which the legal framework of the planning system is being used to frustrate development in the county".

The architects continue: "Many of us worked with planning departments within other local authorities and it is our experience that the above-outlined difficulties are particularly acute within Clare County Council.

"Most of us have over 20 years of experience and are qualified professionals working in the design and construction industry in this county.

"There is little recognition of this by planners, some of whom display little knowledge of the county, have no design or construction experience or qualifications, and who make judgments on applications based upon their own unqualified, subjective opinions."

In a statement last night, Mr Conneally said: "The issues raised in the letter are a matter between the ALG and the planning department of Clare County Council and should be addressed to that forum."

Mr Conneally added: "A criticism of the ALG over the three-year period of its existence has been that it has only been representative of the small group of agents attending the meetings. As stated in the letter received by the council, it is representative of the small number of agents who signed the letter only.

"The Department of the Environment in its recently-published draft Development Management Guidelines has cited Clare's Agents Liaison Group concept as an example of best practice in the communication between planning authorities and agents."