Focused IDP review is welcome
The review of the Island Development Plan, announced this week by the Development & Planning Authority, is likely to be widely welcomed.
Some people, including quite a few politicians, have been looking for it to happen for some time. And the DPA’s intention to get everything done and signed off before the next general election in summer 2025 is laudable and should be of benefit to all parties. Hopefully the end result will achieve the unenviable task of pleasing more people than not.
President Victoria Oliver said she was aware of difficulties which can arise when major pieces of planning policy work span the life of two States. It happened with the IDP itself.
The intention of a ‘proportionate review’ also makes sense. This means that the review won’t concern itself with everything in the plan, but will focus on the main issues identified over the past few years – housing, land supply, affordable housing and GP 11, the loss of agricultural land, biodiversity and the role of the ‘main centres’ where housing is focused.
Pursuit of a separate workstream to examine options for streamlining the legal process to make policy amendments to the IDP also makes sense. The long-winded process is the major reason why there hasn’t been a focused debate on GP11 because the torturous nature of amending the policy would take too long.