Architects rate Sligo as best council for planning
Eighty per cent of architects believe that planning decisions made by local authorities do not support good quality design, according to a survey commissioned by the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI). In the survey, carried out by Behaviour and Attitudes, architects rated Sligo County Council as the best planning service provider and Clare County Council as the poorest in terms of dealing with planning applications. RIAI president Seán Ó Laoire said the lack of consistency among local authorities “is wasting the resources of architects who have lodged planning applications as well as that of the local authorities themselves. “The survey results show that we are not in a position to deliver quality in the built environment with current planning practices”, he said. The greatest criticism was that planners were under-qualified or under-trained, whille 86 per cent felt the system was not good at coping with changes relating to the energy performance, accessibility and sustainability of buildings.
