Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 21 February 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government

General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed)

Mr. Kevin Kelly:

On the broader piece, having worked through development plans in a number of different local authorities, it works best when the executive and elected members work very closely. There are very good examples of that. In the context of the changes that were made, and I know there is a procedure for fast amendments and so forth, we are very open to a fairly robust review in the middle of a ten-year plan. There are scenarios where things will change. There are two issues. First, by and large, lots of things do not change. Second, if we look at the provisions in the legislation in respect of all the strategies that are required and, indeed, the involvement at regional assembly level, much of this is being set out for us. We just need adequate procedures to ensure we can deal with that. It goes back to the point of not having that much change because there has to be a degree of certainty in terms of planning and development.