Re: Re: Irish Rural Dwellers Association

@zelemon wrote:

He sure did, from my discussions with other planners in the area, this is standard procedure, the planners are obviously intimidated by the politicians etc!
is there anything in the planning to forbid such communications?

no.

seeing as the board of councillors are the planners bosses, its not illogical for a planners to feel “intimidated” if there is a councillor sniffing around a file.

I have lots of experience of applications that would not have been successful without political influence. Some interference was required to curb over zealous planners, while other interference was required to give the application any hope of success. Swings and roundabouts in my view.

Planners use their CDP as their bible. They refer to regional and national plans also, and to a smaller extent local area plans. Theres no way every eventuality can be guided by these plans so there is still a large amount decision that is left to the opinion of the planner.