Irish Planning Institute - Extract from Planning Awards Guide 2018
COMMENDATION - Concept Development and Feasibility Study of the Munster Vales
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Tourism Development International
Project Background
Tourism Development International completed a project for a Concept Development and Feasibility Study which was commissioned for a 'geographically contiguous area (to be referred to by the working title of Munster Vales) comprising the inland mountain ranges of Munster, namely the Comeragh, Knockmealdown, Galtee and Ballyhoura, divided by a set of four county boundaries (of Waterford, Tipperary, Cork and Limerick), situated equidistant between four of Ireland's six cities: Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Kilkenny'.
The Study was designed to assess and evaluate the market acceptability of a combined and integrated tourism and recreation identity for the area. The study was commissioned by the Munster Vales Steering Committee which was established in 2013 by a number of different agencies working together on this proposal - comprised of representatives from the County Councils and Rural Development Companies in which the mountains are located along with Failte Ireland.
Commendation
The jury agreed that this project deserved a commendation under this category. This submission is an excellent case study in how to confirm the planning unit of analysis for the project at hand - in this case a series of landscape areas which straddle different statutory jurisdictions - and how then to bring this under a single structure for use.
The jury was specifically impressed with the way the Munster Vales project team sought to assemble and coordinate the varying jurisdiction authorities into adopting a single message and assumed an element of control on this. This creation of a single usable planning message that is applied across several different authorities is a critical proponent of good planning and is particularly important in the area of tourism planning, where planning often spreads across more than one authority.
