The Irish Planning Institute has welcomed yesterday’s publication of a Draft National Landscape Strategy by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

Discussing the draft strategy President Mary Hughes said “A National Landscape Strategy is something the Institute has long called for. It is essential that landscape is considered strategically and planned for holistically and the proposal to undertake a National Landscape Character Assessment will integrate the landscape dimension further into planning decision making and policies”.  

Whilst acknowledging the current challenging period in the public finances, Hughes said that “a number of the nineteen key actions included in the Strategy could be implemented at regional or local level and incorporated into existing plans and policies in line with the principle of subsidiarity, which is embedded in the European Landscape Convention.”