John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

The developer of a residential estate is statutorily required to complete the development in accordance with the terms of the planning permission. A development which has not been completed in accordance with the planning permission is an unauthorised development. Under the Planning and Development Act 2000, planning authorities have substantial enforcement powers. A planning authority may issue an enforcement notice on a development requiring such steps as it may specific to be taken within a specified period. A planning authority may also apply to the High Court or the Circuit Court for an order requiring any person to do or not do anything that the court considers necessary to ensure the development is carried out in conformity with the planning permission.

I want to strengthen the enforcement powers available to planning authorities. The section 35 amendment introduced in the Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Act 2006 allows a planning authority to refuse planning permission without recourse to the High Court to a developer who is in substantial non-compliance with the terms of a previous permission.

The implementation of the new policy in this area will require the commitment of additional resources by planning authorities, particularly with pre-application consultations and the inspection of construction. There may also be a cost for additional remedial works that may be required before older estates can be taken in charge.

Record levels of general purposes grants have been provided this year for local authorities from the local government fund, amounting to approximately €1 billion. I am confident the level of funding made available is adequate to meet ongoing local authority needs.

The Department has also completed a review of planning application fees which the local authorities requested. These were last increased in 1998. A public consultation process on the matter has been completed and I am expecting a report on the outcome of that consultation presently.

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