The OPR today, World Town Planning Day, publish a Paper on Development Plan Monitoring – Measuring What Matters. With this paper, the OPR follow up on its first area of planning research in 2020. That research report, titled ‘Measuring What Matters: Planning Outcomes’ was commissioned by the RTPI and co-funded by the OPR, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH) and governments of Scotland and Wales.
The idea for the original research was spurred by a growing recognition across many jurisdictions that spatial plans need to better communicate their aims and impact to their target audience – the public and interested stakeholders. Specifically, that such plans better demonstrate their effects in improving the quality of life of citizens, the environment and communities.
Working with key stakeholders in drafting this paper, the OPR builds on previous planning research and outlines the key findings from a workshop held/hosted by the OPR on ‘Development Plan Monitoring’ in June 2024. The workshop also showcased new and highly innovative methods of communicating the essence of plans into measurable key objectives, which are shared in this paper. Given the role of the OPR in education, training and oversight, this paper identifies the next steps and key action areas in three core themes.
Today, on World Town Planning Day, when planners and communities across the world come together to celebrate how good planning improves lives, it is timely that the OPR publish this paper which highlights our commitment in the OPR to progressing the necessary action areas to move to outcomes based development plan monitoring system in Ireland.