Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 10 November 2021

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government

Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed)

Photo of Peter BurkePeter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 292:

In page 220, to delete lines 27 and 28 and substitute the following:

“2. Subsection (6) of section 34. 3. Subsection (2) of section 177K.

4. Subsection (2) of section 247.”.

This is a technical drafting amendment. The purpose of the amendment is, for technical and drafting reasons, to add section 34(6) of the Planning and Development Act to relevant provisions for the purposes of section 312, relating to construction of references to development plan. This effectively will apply the material contravention procedures to the national marine planning framework, ensuring that coastal planning authorities are held to account where they intend to deviate from the plan or, indeed, their own designated maritime area plan, DMAP.

The purpose of amendment No. 293 to section 4(1) of the Planning and Development Act is to include, in the category of exempted development, development by a coastal planning authority in its nearshore area, where the coastal planning authority is the owner of the maritime site on which the development is proposed to be situated, or it is the holder of a MAC granted for the occupation of a maritime site for the purposes of the proposed development. The initiated text only provided for an exemption where there was a MAC. This amendment applies the exemptions in the limited cases where the local authority is the owner of the maritime site.

The purpose of amendment No. 294 is to delete from section 4 of the Planning and Development Act, relating to exempted development, development consisting of prospecting for or working of minerals under the Minerals Development Acts 1940 and 2017, and the restoration of the area in which such prospecting for or working of minerals has taken place. This type of development is now being brought into the maritime planning regime owing to the lack of a suitable assessment framework for EIA in the maritime area. Amendment No. 291 relates to this issue.

Amendment No. 295 is a technical drafting amendment to change the reference of the current subsection (1A)(d) in section 4 of the Planning and Development Act to subsection (1A)(c). This is a renumbering required as a result of the deletion of paragraph (c) of the initiated text and the subsequent amendments all do likewise in respect of the relevant paragraphs.

Amendment No. 296 changes the current subsection (1A)(e) to subsection (1A)(d).

Amendment No. 297 changes the current subsection (1A)(f) to subsection (1A)(e).

Amendment No. 298 changes the current subsection (1A)(g) to subsection (1A)(f). I note a typo in the listed amendments. The number “5” should be inserted after “Part” in this amendment as in the initiated text.

I will be instructing the Bills Office accordingly.

Amendment No. 299 changes the current subsection (1A)(h) to subsection (1A)(g). The purpose of amendment No. 300 is to adjust the numbering in this list to reflect the renumbering. This clause is similar to existing clauses in the Planning and Development Act 2000 that limit exemptions where an environmental impact assessment is required.

The purpose of amendment No. 301 is to adjust the numbering in this list to reflect the renumbering. This clause is similar to existing clauses in the Planning and Development Act 2000 that limit exemptions where an appropriate assessment is required.

I want to flag to Deputies that I will table a further minor technical amendment on Report Stage to paragraph (b)(i) of the list in the new section 4(1A) to reference more accurately sections 8, 9 and 19 of the referenced Act at line 41. These references were inadvertently omitted from the initiated text and should be inserted.

Amendment No. 302 inserts a series of new direct amendments to the Planning and Development Act 2000 to do two key things. The first is to ensure the hierarchy of land-based plans, where they interact with the maritime area, has appropriate regard to the national marine planning framework when they are being prepared. The second element relates to the functions of the Office of the Planning Regulator, where it is proposed to increase its training and functional review functions to cover the provisions of the Bill. I will address each of these in turn but I note that, for clarity, all of the numbering in this Schedule will be adjusted to reflect the new insertions and deletions as provided for in the proposed amendments.

The following references follow the numbering in amendment No. 302. Reference No. 4 is that the purpose of the amendment to section 12(18) of the Planning and Development Act is to provide that there is an obligation to ensure that any development plan prepared by a coastal planning authority should be consistent with the national marine planning framework. This is to ensure compliance with the marine spatial planning directive and section 14 of the Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021.

Reference No. 5 is that the purpose of the amendment to section 13(14) of the Planning and Development Act is to provide that there is an obligation to ensure any development plan prepared by a coastal planning authority should be consistent with the national marine planning framework. This is to ensure compliance with the marine spatial planning directive and section 14 of the Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021.

Reference No. 6 is that the purpose of the amendment to section 23(3) of the Planning and Development Act is to provide that a regional assembly, in preparing its regional spatial and economic strategy, must ensure it is consistent with the national marine planning framework if the strategy is likely to affect the maritime area.

Reference No. 7 is that the purpose of the amendment to section 31(1)(ba) of the Planning and Development Act is to allow the Minister to issue a direction to a planning authority where its development plan is not consistent with the national marine planning framework. This is to ensure compliance with the marine spatial planning directive and section 14 of the Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021.

Reference No. 8 is that the purpose of the amendment to section 31Q(1)(a) of the Planning and Development Act is to provide that the Office of the Planning Regulator can provide education and training programmes for members of planning authorities and regional assemblies in respect of the role of such members, authorities and assemblies in relation to guidelines issued under section 7 of the Maritime Area Planning Act 2021 and policy directives issued under section 8 of the Maritime Area Planning Act 2021. The purpose of the amendment to section 31Q(1)(b) of the Planning and Development Act is to provide that the Office of the Planning Regulator can provide education and training programmes for members of the staff of local authorities or regional assemblies in relation to maritime spatial planning.

Reference No. 9 is that the purpose of the amendment to section 31S(1)(a) of the Planning and Development Act is to add section 7 or 8 of the Maritime Area Planning Act 2021 on ministerial guidelines and directives to the policies and objectives to which the Office of the Planning Regulator, in performing its functions, must have regard. This is consistent with the provisions in respect of the land-based planning systems. The purpose of the amendment to section 31S(1)(c) is to require the Office of the Planning Regulator, in performing its functions, to have regard to the national marine planning framework in addition to the national planning framework.

Reference No. 10 is that the purpose of the amendment to section 31AM is to require that the Office of the Planning Regulator includes consistency with the national marine planning framework in its evaluations and assessments of matters relating to development plans. This is to ensure compliance with section 14 of the Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021.

Reference No. 11 is that the purpose of the amendment to section 31AQ(2) of the Planning and Development Act is to require that the Office of the Planning Regulator includes consistency with the national marine planning framework in its evaluations and assessments of matters relating to regional spatial and economic strategies. This is to ensure compliance with section 14 of the Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021.

With regard to amendment No. 303, on foot of legal advice the purpose of the amendment to section 125 of the Planning and Development Act, regarding appeals, referrals and applications with which the board is concerned, is to insert a new subsection (2) stating that Chapter III of the Planning and Development Act, other than sections 126 to 134, inclusive, shall apply to applications under section 291 of the Planning and Development Act and requests under section 297 of the Planning and Development Act. Section 125 as it stood before the insertion of this amendment will become subsection (1) of the section.

This construction will ensure the board is obliged to comply with the provisions of Chapter III of Part VI, save for the excluded provisions. The excluded provisions are not relevant to applications under section 291 or requests under section 297 or a specific provision has already been made in the Bill, for example, oral hearings under the new section 305. It is here that the obligations are placed on the board to publish the material referred to in earlier discussions.

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