Lost in translation? Some issues encountered in transferring village design statements from England to Ireland

Abstract

The erosion of the distinctive character of smaller rural settlements in England has been addressed with some success through the preparation of Village Design Statements (VDS) by local communities. Adopting a more or less unmodified version of the English VDS model, the Heritage Council introduced a VDS programme in Ireland in 2000. This paper reports on an evaluation of that programme and indicates that VDSs in Ireland have had very limited success to date in terms of their stated objectives. The paper reflects on some of the difficulties experienced in transferring an established community-led initiative from one cultural, political and institutional context to another, and concludes that aspects of that context need to be addressed before VDSs are likely to redress the loss of distinctiveness in villages in Ireland or elsewhere. Further, it concludes that in many situations a community-led instrument embracing broader social, economic and environmental matters might be more appropriate than a VDS.