Pat Casey (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will try and focus on the processes as opposed to anything else and perhaps makes some comments on other issues. I believe that the 18 week period is unacceptable in today's environment. I fail to see why it cannot be put into statute that a decision has to be made in 18 weeks one way or another. We brought a similar measure in the local authorities many years ago whereby the authorities were forced to make a decision within eight weeks. The board should be under the same obligation, whether it is 18 weeks, 20 weeks or 12 weeks. In any event, a decision must be made. It is unfair that a person who has to go through an appeal process does not know when the decision is going to be made. Whether it is a matter of business or the family home makes no difference. People should know as a basic entitlement when the decision is to be made. I acknowledge the work of the board in trying to address that, but the level of 40% is nowhere near where we need to be. It should not be there. We should not have the option in the first place. The decision should be made within the statutory process and it should not be extended.

Mr. Walsh has been part of the strategic housing development process moving towards the board. The strategic infrastructure process is with the board at the moment and site valuation is with the board at the moment. It looks like a great deal of planning is going to the board and bypassing the local authority. From an observation point of view, there are three different types of planning process. This is what I am trying to get to and what the public has a difficulty with. It is very difficult to understand the planning process for the public. Even as a public representative I find that it gets rather complicated. Now that the board is dealing with three different types, is there a model or is there something coming forward in a more transparent or consistent way? The term "consistency in decision-making" was used. That is what the public wants to see. They want to see consistency. It is difficult for the public to understand how decisions are made and it is important that we get consistency in the decision-making process. I am seeking the opinion of Mr. Walsh on the three different processes that the board is dealing with at the moment.

My next point is on the figures. One of the charts that the An Bord Pleanála representatives showed us indicated that 1,200 appeals relate to residential development. Of that a significant number relate to one-off rural housing appeals. The figure is in excess of 400. That raises a concern for me as a person who comes from a rural area and who has been through the rural planning process. The level of appeals for one-off rural houses is staggeringly high. Is there anything we should be doing to try to prevent that happening or to deal with issues at council level such that they do not end up with the board? I have my views on the planning process about one-off rural housing. There is not enough consultation with the applicant at local authority level. A great deal could be ironed out there which would mean it might not end up taking the time of An Board Pleanála officials.

I will offer some observations on the national planning framework, regional plans and county plans. Although I am supportive of the logic and the sequence, it has put several local area plans completely out of sync in my county. I mentioned the Newtownmountkennedy plan. It will have been 16 years before it has a new local area plan because we wrote it at the time of the crash but nothing was happening at the time. The six-year period ended last year. Now, we are told that we have to get into sequence with the national planning framework. The original plan will be adopted. The information coming through now is that we will not be able to put in place a variation on our county plan and that we will have to redo the county plan. In the meantime, Newtownmountkennedy will have to wait for the county plan. It could be another three years before Newtownmountkennedy will have a local area plan. It is similar with the Wicklow town and Wicklow environs plans, which were meant to be done this year. They are going to be kicked down the road now. Development is beginning to take place in both these areas, but they will not have a local area plan in place to deal with each situation.

I wish to comment on county development plan policy versus national plan policy and maybe even EU policy further up the line. There has been controversy around wind energy. County policy has been overruled by national policy. Despite this, at the moment there is no national policy and we are still waiting for the strategy on wind. We have many applications for solar farms. There is no policy around this sector. Some authorities are not making decisions because there is no policy. What will happen around the area when there is no policy on the information?

I welcome the Plean-IT project. It is a pity it is not in place now but I can understand how important it will be. It makes the process transparent for the public when it can access all the information freely online. The same applies to our county plan process. When we show people that they can get everything online, it makes them more comfortable with the system and makes them believe that the system is more transparent. The same applies with the board. The An Bord Pleanála website could probably do with a rehash. It is rather difficult for people to make their way around it. I might come back on some points following the reply from Mr. Walsh.