Department ‘ignores’ public responses to Marine Planning Policy Statement
A local action group in West Cork says the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government ‘appears to have ignored’ hundreds of pages of public submissions in a keystone document relating to Ireland’s marine planning laws currently under review.
On June 10 last, Tánaiste Simon Coveney, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed and Minister of State for Housing and Urban Renewal, Damien English, launched the draft Marine Planning Policy Statement (MPPS).
A two-month public consultation period attracted wide-ranging submissions from 60 public bodies, institutions, companies and individuals.
They provide “compelling insight into the varied realities of twenty-first-century Irish communities’ interactions with the sea” and represent time and energy to engage with and improve the MPPS.
“But the published MPPS ‘ignores every single one – and the document has only been available since December 3 yet the consultation began on November 12,” Tomás O’Sullivan told Inshore Ireland.
The department however replied to Inshore Ireland that the MPPS has been available on a new dedicated website launched on November 12. (see full response below)
“It’s regrettable that the Department person to whom I spoke on December 3, neglected to direct me to that site,” remarked O’Sullivan.
Public engagement
While acknowledging that many of the submissions dealt with specifics “best handled” through the Marine Planning and Development Bill or the National Marine Planning Framework, O’Sullivan said he was “appalled” that such a significant volume of public engagement “could be dismissed so easily by the Department”.
“To change a mere 24 words in response to over 200 pages of submissions, suggests a lack of engagement that may not even rouse itself to going through the motions of window-dressing.
“Public consultation does not mean merely receiving submissions; it means responding to them, and treating them with some respect.
“Lofty declarations of commitment to public engagement are all well and good but they count for very little unless the Department itself is prepared to engage with the responses it receives from the public.”
“The time and the energy of these stakeholders appears to have been treated with disdain,” he says.
Drilled-down detail
A statistical analysis of the published MPPS “demonstrates it is all but identical with the draft text upon which these stakeholders commented: 99% of the text is the same.”
According to the group, the only changes made were the removal of the words ‘Consultation Draft’ from the document’s cover; the headers at the top of its pages; elimination of some typos and the alteration of 24 out of 6,000-odd words.
Other changes included the the addition of ‘the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive and the Water Framework Directive (pg8); expansion of ‘Department’ to ‘Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’ (pg12) and the expansion of ‘marine stakeholders and the public’ to ‘marine stakeholders including NGOs, community groups and members of the public’ (pg12).
Background
The MPPS plays a crucial role in the government’s three-year plan to produce Ireland’s first ever Marine Spatial Plan by the end of 2020.
‘In essence, it is a key road map: a parallel to the 2015 Planning Policy Statement’ that underpins the operation of the entire land-planning system in Ireland,’ says O’Sullivan.
The MPPS outlines a vision for future development of Ireland’s marine planning system and sets out overarching priorities and principles for public bodies to observe, alongside high-level priorities for future use of Ireland’s marine resources.
‘It is therefore no surprise to find the MPPS is identified as a ‘key reference’ document on no less than 34 distinct occasions in the draft National Marine Planning Framework – another core document published by the DHPLG last November and itself currently undergoing a period of public consultation’ ending next February.
Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government respond:
Q: Why does it appear that the public submissions are not reflected in the published MPPS?
A: A total of 60 submissions were received as part of the public consultation period on the MPPS. In general, the MPPS was welcomed by marine stakeholders as an important basis for drawing together the various components of the marine planning system and a policy within which, for example, the Marine Planning and Development Management Bill and the NMPF can be understood.
Few submissions put forward suggested changes to the draft MPPS. Rather, most of the detailed consultation responses related more to the content and thrust of either the MPDM (e.g. recommendations that enactment of the MPDM Bill should be accelerated) or NMPF (e.g. requests that the plan should contain presumptions in favour of or rule out certain activity types).
Accordingly, only minor amendments and updates were made in finalising the MPPS itself.
Q: Why was the finalised MPPS was only posted on the DoHPLG website on December 3 when it is referred to in the NMPF consultation draft that commenced on November 12 and runs until February 28?
A: The MPPS was launched on November 12 alongside the launch of the Consultation Draft NMPF. The MPPS, Consultation Draft NMPF and documents related to the consultation were available to view on a new website that was also launched that day.
The launch of this website was widely publicised and press releases and social media content relating to the launch of the MPPS and NMPF contained information about it.
The aim of this new website was to bring all MSP-related policy documents together into one place, making it easier for citizen access.
