The burning issues of housing supply and planning, sustainable retail and town centre development, and the regulation of planning, are among the topics set to be discussed at the Irish Planning Institute’s forthcoming annual conference.
The two-day conference takes place in the Sheraton Hotel in Athlone on Thursday, April 14, and Friday, April 15. It will be officially opened by Deirdre Fallon, president of the Irish Planning Institute.
The event sees contributions from a range of speakers including: Conall Boland, deputy chairperson of An Bord Pleanála; Gregory Jones QC, chair of the recently-published review of An Bord Pleanála; Tara Buckley of RGDATA; Richard Guiney of Dublin Town on the future prospects of Irish towns; and Karl Deeter of Irish Mortgage Brokers on the current housing supply crisis and the role of future planning policy.
Also present will be the recently-retired president of the Irish Planning Institute, Mary Hughes, who has been nominated by the institute for election to Seanad Éireann’s Industrial and Commercial Panel.
The conference features a number of field visits, including a Town Centre Revitalisation Walking Tour and an Urban Synergies Bus Tour. The Athlone town centre tour by Deputy Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran and county chief executive, Pat Keating, features a talk on the management of flood plains and will take in the Luan Gallery, Athlone Castle, and the Left Bank Quarter.
The Urban Synergies tour incorporates Athlone Institute of Technology and the International Arena, the restoration of the old railway buildings in Garrycastle, the Greenway to Moate, and the Dún na Sí Heritage Centre.
Further details regarding the conference programme can be viewed at www.ipi.ie/events/planning-conference-2016
