Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 119:

In page 33, line 24, to delete "subsection (1)" and substitute "subsection (1) or (4)".

Section 22 provides that a further extension of duration of permission may be granted by a planning authority in case of a housing development comprising 20 or more houses where the authority considers that a further extension is necessary to enable the development to be completed. This would remove the requirement to go through the planning process again and, importantly, would expedite the completion of the housing development in question. Section 22 amends section 42 of the 2000 Act relating to the extension of duration of certain planning permissions for the duration of the specific period provided for in sections 3 and 4 of the Bill. This is an essential part of the strategic housing development provisions and follows a commitment in the Rebuilding Ireland document. For the benefit of colleagues, we made a change in the Seanad to make sure that extensions do not apply to decisions made under the new streamlined planning system involving more than 100 houses because if people get the benefit of an early decision, we want people to move and start building. We are not going to streamline a planning process and get planning permissions for people only for them to sit on them indefinitely. After a five-year planning period, there will be no renewal in the case of the new streamlined planning process about which we spoke earlier but for existing planning permissions that are running out and that may have had one renewal, this effectively allows for a second renewal and gives the chief executive of a local authority the powers to do that. Some estates that are half finished or that went bust may have run out of planning permission and would have to go through the planning process all over again. This allows a local authority to renew the planning application so the estate can be built.