Impact of the Construction Sector downturn on the Planning Bureaucracy

[dissatisfied]

Two questions:

Which sector of the economy has been most affected by the downturn, with the loss of tens of thousands of jobs, and a reduction in activity to approx 20% of peak?

Clue…. 12 letters; c.n...u.t...

Following on form the above, how many planning officials have been made redundant by the combined tax payer funded planning bureaucracy (County Councils, Department of the Environment, Heritage & Local Government, An Board Pleanalla, (and whatever other government bodies and quangoes meddle in it from time to time)

Clue….. 3 letters; sfa

[/etc]

Just a wild guess from me - the number of applications for planning permission must have dropped at least 70% from the peak. I'd say that 7 out of 10 government staff involved in processing these applications are now getting paid for playing computer games or ball scratching at work.

[Squire Allworthy]

Obviously with the reduction in applications you now should have a corresponding reduction in Planners, Building Control staff and other related occupations. If you leave them to their own devices they will create mountains of work for themselves and a pile of restrictions and proposed legislation that would ensure that any future revival requires more and more of them.

Indeed it may be a good time to consider wider stream lining. Less people employed so do we need as many tax inspectors etc.

[selfemployedmar]

Two questions:

Which sector of the economy has been most affected by the downturn, with the loss of tens of thousands of jobs, and a reduction in activity to approx 20% of peak?

Clue…. 12 letters; c.n...u.t...

Following on form the above, how many planning officials have been made redundant by the combined tax payer funded planning bureaucracy (County Councils, Department of the Environment, Heritage & Local Government, An Board Pleanalla, (and whatever other government bodies and quangoes meddle in it from time to time)

Clue….. 3 letters; sfa

Oh these guys cant be sacked thats the beauty of the Public Sector, they can now hide in the system and who pays their wages? We mugs do.. Little hitlers, planning?? They couldnt plan a kids birthday party. Oh dont start me on the planners, I could write a novel on the useless tools

[alonso]

have you considered that the 2001 embargo on hiring planners may have had an impact on planners workloads in the interim period? Deadlines were missed on decisions with AI being sought as a stop gap measure, ALL forward planning was farmed out to consultants at exorbitant fees and An Bord Pleanala became the de facto planning authority for almost all major applications. Most LA planners have been pretty much unavailable for meetings with applicants for 5 years and many have been working 60 hour weeks for 5 years. In the private sector, planners have been doing the same, ironically working on what used to be Local Authority planners work for a good chunk of that time.

When you consider the fall off in applications, think about when was the last time An Bord Pleanala made a decision on a major application in the 18 week statutory period?

There is a massive cull happening in the private sector, an absolute bloodbath. The unemployment rate for Architects is now estimated at 50% and this is filtering thourgh to the planning profession. Forward planning is now being done by the Councils again for the 1st time in a decade, which along with the construction collapse has killed off the private sector. No one in the Councils that I know is making work for themselves, they are now doing the work they couldn't do until last year as it was being sent off to consultants. In addition to this, many planners in LAs are temporary and are being let go. At all levels.

Whether it gets so bad that planners have nothing to do, when all the policies necessary are enacted, when all the Local Area plans have been done (see DLR Dev Plan and Meath for a hint on how many are not being done despite a legal obligation to do so) and all the next round of development plans have been adopted, then we can talk about reductions

Fianna Fail strangled the planning process as good planning would've prevented the "built on sand nonsense" boom since 2001 or would've at least directed growth away from their friends lands into proper development areas (existing centres, off flood plains, near public transport etc etc). Now is a chance to actually plan for the next period of growth. Think what you like, but i'd rather the Local Authoritys were armed with a team of qualified planners to fight the gombeenism that caused this environmentally catastrophic shambles than let the County Councillors run riot.

And I say this while admittedly possessing a complete and utter vested interest in this profession.

[alonso]

Oh these guys cant be sacked thats the beauty of the Public Sector, they can now hide in the system and who pays their wages? We mugs do.. Little hitlers, planning?? They couldnt plan a kids birthday party. Oh dont start me on the planners, I could write a novel on the useless tools

Go ahead..... but read a few of my posts on the issues first

[Murra]

I remember a few years back when all newly employed PS workers were taken on on a 'temporary' basis - some of them were 'temporary' for years, and they were giving out ding-dong about this.

Are they still temporary? Does anybody have a clue how many 'temporary' positions there are, and will these 'temporary' positions now be done away with?

[alonso]

I remember a few years back when all newly employed PS workers were taken on on a 'temporary' basis - some of them were 'temporary' for years, and they were giving out ding-dong about this.

Are they still temporary? Does anybody have a clue how many 'temporary' positions there are, and will these 'temporary' positions now be done away with?

yes they are still temporary and are being let go. everywhere.

[jpc]

Obviously with the reduction in applications you now should have a corresponding reduction in Planners, Building Control staff and other related occupations. If you leave them to their own devices they will create mountains of work for themselves and a pile of restrictions and proposed legislation that would ensure that any future revival requires more and more of them.

Indeed it may be a good time to consider wider stream lining. Less people employed so do we need as many tax inspectors etc.

Sounds about right.

[wexfordman]

Well many will have an option now of early retirment or perhaps paid career breaks after yesterdays budget.