Batt O'Keeffe (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputies for their contributions, which I have noted. I also thank Deputy Gilmore for introducing the Bill. It presents an opportunity to highlight deficiencies relating to planning and development issues within housing estates. It gives Deputies an opportunity to highlight the fact that there are inefficiencies within the system and that non-cooperation in terms of the proper development of estates cannot and will not be tolerated. There are issues within the Bill which must be referred for further legal consultation but this can be addressed on Committee Stage. Last night, the Minister indicated to Deputy Gilmore that he would like his party to examine the legal nuances. These will be worth noting prior to Committee Stage.

While the completion of housing estates is an extremely important issue, it is just part of the wider question of compliance with planning conditions in general. The introduction of a culture of enforcement is crucial to ensuring the planning control system works properly and for the benefit of the whole community. Lack of planning control enforcement can lead to damage to communities, the environment and our natural and built heritage. It can also lead to an erosion of public confidence and support for the planning system. As is the case for all laws, if people are to respect the planning system, they must be assured that all the conditions will be enforced. If planning law is not enforced, public support for planning systems as a whole will be undermined totally, and we must be very concerned about this.

We can all point to cases where there have been flagrant breaches of the planning code. At one time planning authorities did not appear to be able to tackle the issue. It was for these reasons that one of the major principles behind the Planning and Development Act was the revision the planning code. This culminated in the Planning and Development Act 2000, which sought to strengthen the enforcement provisions. It is important to look back and see exactly what this meant. In the first instance, the aim was to simplify and reinforce the weapons available to local authorities to effectively address breaches of the planning code and to allow local authorities to catch them at an early stage. It also sought to give incentives to local authorities to take action. Local authorities can now recoup their costs where they pursue developers for breaches of the planning code, and they can keep these fines. It also ensured that people who complained about a breach of the code were responded to and kept informed of the progress of the complaint.

The Act also introduced significant measures to promote enforcement of planning control throughout the country. Planning authorities are now statutorily advised to take action in response to any unauthorised development they become aware of, whether through complaint from the public or otherwise, unless the development in question is trivial. As can be seen throughout the Act, the planning authority must issue a warning letter within six weeks. It must investigate speedily any unauthorised development. It must make a decision on whether to issue an enforcement notice within 12 weeks if possible and, most important, it must keep the complainant informed of progress. There is a very strong legal framework already in place to deal with enforcement of planning control.

The enforcement provisions of the Act commenced on 11 March 2002. While it is still very early to establish the impact on the overall level of enforcement activity by the authorities, the 2003 information supplied by the planning authority indicates a 28% increase in the number of notices issued. There is also an increase in the number of notices complied with, which now stands at 24%. There is almost a doubling in the number of convictions from 100 in 2002 to 196 in 2003. In her 2003 annual report, the Ombudsman acknowledged that there appears to have been some improvement in local authority performance in regard to enforcement generally.

My Department will continue to keep the implementation of the enforcement provisions of the 2000 Act under review. Local authorities will for the first time this year report on their performance against 42 service indicators, covering the full range of local government services, including indicators regarding enforcement of planning control. The indicators will allow members of the public and elected representatives to compare the performance of their local authority with all the other local authorities, and how their local authority is performing in terms of its duty. The process is intended to facilitate the identification of good practice and to encourage all local authorities towards improved performance. Issues such as enforcement are regularly raised through formal consultation mechanisms established between the Department and the city and county managers association, the representative body of the managers of the planning authorities. We will continue to press the planning authorities to improve their performance on planning enforcement. An opportunity also exists for members of the various local authorities to examine the progress being made, including the unsatisfactory practice in some local authorities in terms of pursuing developers who do not comply with the planning code, and ensuring that county or city managers ensure compliance with the Act.

As previously stated, there are significant measures in the 2000 Act to specifically address the issue of completion of housing estates. Planning authorities may now attach a condition to a planning permission requiring the giving of adequate security for the satisfactory completion of the development. If the development is not completed satisfactorily, the planning authority may use that money as security to have the estate completed. The Act also provides that, where estates have not been completed to the satisfaction of the planning authority, and the authority has not taken enforcement proceedings within seven years, the planning authority must take the estate in charge if requested to do so by the majority of residents. This is clearly an incentive for local authorities to ensure estates are completed.

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