Dr. Se?n O'Leary:

This may be an example of where it needs to be joined up with the planning Bill more widely, if the ambition of the planning Bill is to have as much detail and engagement as early as possible. When it comes to urban development zones, UDZ, the board would be very limited in the circumstances where it could hold an oral hearing, and that is of concern to us. It is about getting that right at the start. We spoke about technology and so on as well.

Regarding the resource issue, it goes with the local authority that is assessing or identifying a candidate UDZ and then drawing it up. It goes to the planning resources available to developers, to environmental expertise and to a whole host of skills that are required. While the board is being beefed up, that is in effect taking resources away from other parts of the planning system. It is a very serious issue and the timelines in place for a host of aspects of the UDZs are unrealistic. It applies to the wider Bill and it certainly applies to this. That is something that needs to be reflected upon because otherwise it will lead to disappointment, frustration and a feeling that something is not working when perhaps we are baking in failure without those additional resources. Having gone through the SDZ experience, Mr. Jones might have a view on how public participation and the oral hearing aspect in that process can work better.