There is no sense of the required urgency that is necessary to address the existential threat of the climate emergency. The most recent IPCC report delivered a stark ‘Final Warning’ that we have only 3 years left to commence significantly reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.
There is no sense of the transformational change that is required. The draft plan represents only incremental change from the previous plan. There is no evidence that the draft plan will deliver a just transition in accordance with environmental and social justice.
The Office of the Planning Regulator recently published an OPR Case Study Paper CSP05 - Climate Action and the Local Authority Development Plan. The following is taken from the Study Paper:
“Some of the key building blocks identified in the report for more climate action focused local development plans include:
- Build More Robust Evidence Bases: Every local authority development plan should start with an understanding of existing greenhouse gas emissions in that local authority area linking back to the national targets.
- Set Measurable Targets: Ireland’s overall target to decarbonize, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 51% by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2050, needs to be quickly broken down across the local authority areas for clarity in the planning process in the roles local communities must play. For example, a target could be set to ensure that a certain proportion of new housing is located within a certain distance of a public transport node.
- Identify Co-Benefits: Local authorities need to recognize and promote the co-benefits of climate action measures. These include the benefits associated with revitalizing and regenerating towns and villages, social and economic development (just transition and local jobs), biodiversity (rewilding and carbon sinks) and improved quality of life, health and wellbeing (greenways and blueways).
- Deliver More Consistency in Policy Formulation: Significant inconsistencies have arisen both within some local authority development plans and between plans of neighbouring local authorities that work against co-ordinated climate action.
- Adopt Clearer Policy Objectives: Evidence based and co-ordinated planning approaches across local authorities is vital to inform clear policy objectives that enable proper measurement of progress in implementation. What can’t be measured, cannot be effectively monitored.
- Promote More Collaboration and Partnership: Development plan preparation in some areas has tended to lead to local controversies in the past around topics like the location of windfarms.”
Recommendation:
The development plan must include the above building blocks which are absent from the Draft GCDP.