Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)

I am glad to have a chance to speak on the Bill. It is one of those funny Bills. It is called the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009 and it is described as a Bill to support economic renewal and promote sustainable development. I cannot find that in the Bill and I do not know what it will do to support economic renewal. I have gone through the Bill and I have read the Minister's speech but I am not convinced it does anything different from what is there at present, except to tighten up one or two things. There is nothing wrong with the Bill but it is not the be-all and end-all of economic renewal. I had hoped it would go into more detail in certain areas. Perhaps that will happen on Committee Stage. The Bill will not solve as many problems as it promises to do.

We will have a chance to add to the Bill and improve it. Having read the Minister's speech, I know what he wants to do. It is a pity he, or someone like him, was not responsible for planning a number of years ago. This is a case of closing the stable door when the horse has bolted. Many of our current problems are the result of bad planning.

The Minister referred to his objective of carrying out flood risk assessment as part of the control and regulation of development in areas at risk of flooding. I understood that was already in place to ensure planners did not build on flood plains and on lands that flood. New legislation is not necessarily needed to prevent that. Planners and engineers in county councils need to listen to local people. In any case in which I have been involved where there was flooding following development, the potential for flooding was flagged and planners and engineers were told by local people who did not have degrees in planning but who knew the land would flood because they had seen it happen year in, year out. It is silly that we did not listen to them. There are numerous examples of that.

I was involved in a case in my area where a new county council graveyard was being provided. All the locals said the field flooded every year but nobody listened to them. The graveyard was built and it floods. We do not necessarily need new laws but common sense and instructions to planners to take on board people's opinions, especially if there is proof of flooding, and not to put objections and submissions to one side because people might not have planning degrees. Very often people are not wrong and local information is required.

The Minister spoke about towns in the commuter belt suffering the most from the economic downturn. He was correct in what he said. Towns such as Navan, where I am from, Trim and Naas and other towns in the greater Dublin area - the Acting Chairman, Deputy O'Connor, might mention Tallaght - suffered badly in the Celtic tiger years from stupid planning and a lack of planning. Many of the development plans which caused the problems were from the 1990s - 1996, 1997 and 1998 - when field after field was zoned. Since then, development plans have been generally quite well done. I was involved in one in my town when I was a councillor - the 2003 development plan. Excellent planning was done on it but most of it has not come into force yet because development stopped.

The Minister spoke about trying to correct things in this Bill, which I believe have been corrected. The development plans in which I was involved in 2001, 2002 and 2003 all used local area plans, strategic development zones and so on for proper planning. There are some great plans in place which will come on stream in the future and which correct the balance in planning in regard development land for housing versus school sites, infrastructure and so on. Quite often that was missing. However, it is there now so I am not sure what new great things this Bill will do.

The Minister spoke about the scatterings of estates with no schools and so on. That is a major problem which must be addressed but it will need to be addressed through council funding and by putting in place infrastructure which is missing. A Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill or otherwise will not fix that, rather it will be money and proper targeted resources in those areas to correct bad planning decisions which were made by parties on all sides. Bad decisions need to be corrected but this Bill will not do that and the Minister should not necessarily speak about it. As I said, the plans are in place to fix it.

The Bill states that councillors and planners will have to provide evidence that they have had regard to national spatial guidelines, the greater Dublin region planning guidelines and so on. The national spatial strategy more or less skips the commuter belt zone and goes beyond it. It is a long time since I read it in 2003, 2002 or even before that when it was published. The reason I read it was that it barely mentioned my county of Meath or the counties around it which have suffered from bad planning and where the majority of houses were built. The spatial strategy directs funds and investment elsewhere. If we ever get the chance to debate that document, which must be seven or eight years old, we might be able to point that out and show where it is flawed and where it misses an opportunity to direct investment in infrastructure, industry and so on into areas which have suffered from all that housing.

In addition, we should use the outer ring of Dublin as a springboard to link it to rural areas. I refer to places beyond the M50, to Drogheda, Navan, Naas, Kilcock, Bray and so on. They could be the link with the areas beyond them such as Athlone, Roscommon, Kilkenny and so on. To skip those areas completely was wrong.

I am disappointed this Bill refers to the national spatial strategy as if it is the be-all and end-all. It is not because we have not discussed it. I rarely hear about it being used in policy formulation elsewhere. Perhaps this Bill is an attempt to try to have it used. The regional planning guidelines and the greater Dublin guidelines are spoken about a lot, they are issued a lot, they are updated and so on but the national spatial strategy is not. I am not convinced this Bill will do much because the document itself is flawed.

The Minister said only minor changes will be allowed after the public consultation. I am not happy with that. When preparing a development plan, politicians, including councillors and Deputies, assume members of the public know all about it, are fully tuned in, read every amendment and know what is happening in the fields behind their houses but they do not. It is usually many years before they discover what is going on. When something is being built, they realise they should have objected to it or amended the plan but they have missed that opportunity.

New ideas often come in during the process of a development plan which might be significant and encourage councillors to zone a different field or make a big decision. I know guidelines are set down for the different stages of a development plan, the consultation period and so on, but this Bill speaks about limiting it to minor amendments after the consultation stage. There is nothing wrong with returning the consultation stage for a third or fourth time if necessary with a major amendment. It is proper and good planning. It would give people a chance to change their opinion when new ideas come in.

The Bill should provide that if there are proposals to zone land in a certain area for industrial or commercial use, housing or whatever, we advertise it more publicly. A little note in a local or a national newspaper is not good enough to inform thousands of people in an area who might not read. If we are to zone land, a large sign should be put up in the same way as with a planning application in order that people's attention is drawn to it and that they can have a real say in what happens in their community. That would be a useful amendment but it is not in the Bill.

The Minister said decisions by An Bord Pleanála in regard to routine cases will only require a quorum of two members instead of three. I am not convinced that will work and I have a problem with it. We need to look at An Bord Pleanála because it is not working fast enough for a modern society. Things have slowed down but decisions need to be made more quickly. During the boom times, a nine month plus timeframe was ridiculous. Many planners, engineers and architectures are unemployed so there is no reason An Bord Pleanála cannot increase its staff and make decisions more quickly based on the current rules. Having two members will not work because there will be logjams. The use of three members always worked.

I have an issue with An Bord Pleanála not listening to its inspectors who go out on site and do reports. There are many examples of where an inspector does a good report but it seems to be put to one side and the board makes its own decision. I question that. The more staff in An Bord Pleanála, the quicker the decisions. Less than two years ago, the Minister gave a commitment to the committee to increase the staff in An Bord Pleanála but I have not seen any changes.

I was involved in a case recently in Carton House. An Bord Pleanála made a decision to refuse a science park, or a smart park as it was called, based on current planning laws, and I am not saying it was wrong in what it did. That is something this country badly needs and it would support economic renewal. Planning was refused because the development was on a very important site, Carton House demesne, which has connections with this building.

When one walks the site, one realises An Bord Pleanála might have been wrong. Although the planning laws perhaps meant it had no choice but to refuse permission, common sense would suggest that this park would have blended in quite well and could have been facilitated. Will the Minister consider trying to strike a balance between the protection of heritage, the environment and so on and good economic planning in this Bill or in another one? We must move forward, create jobs and make some tough decisions. It might not be possible to have all the nice things and none of the not so nice things. Smart parks and science parks are the norm in other countries but not here. Common sense is needed and the manner in which the law is applied should be changed. Anyone who visited the site in question would realise that the decision was wrong. It may be necessary, therefore, to change planning legislation. The Minister should consider doing so in this Bill because if we are to create jobs and emerge from our serious economic difficulties, we must ensure decision making becomes more commercial.

It has been argued that, as a result of the Bill, improvements will be made to the effectiveness, efficiency and environmental sustainability of the planning code, including the facilitation of e-planning and so forth. How equipped is this country for environmental planning? I am not convinced we are up to speed in this area, which will become more important in future. I do not believe environmental and planning experts in local authorities and An Bord Pleanála have a sufficiently high level of training. Perhaps the Minister of State will correct me in that regard. The Bill affords us an opportunity to address the issue of training. Should different training be provided, for instance?

I am not convinced that environmental impact statements are of a sufficiently high quality. Perhaps new guidelines are needed for environmental impact statements. The economic slowdown provides an opportunity to fix these types of problems. Rather than introducing legislation which offers ideas, the Minister should legislate for solving problems.

The Bill refers to the provision and development of infrastructure. Many local authorities, particularly those located in the commuter belt and have suffered from bad planning, rely on developer driven projects for the provision of new infrastructure. To take my home town as an example - I am being parochial because Deputies' expertise is in our respective local areas - people in Navan are relying on a developer to build a ring road for the town. Given that developments are not proceeding at a fast pace in the current climate, the inner relief road for Navan, which is separate from a proposed by-pass, will not be built. Other towns will experience similar problems.

The Government, using taxpayers' money, should provide infrastructure before developments commence. Once a development has been completed, the developer should be charged the costs incurred in providing the infrastructure. Waiting on developers to build or phase in infrastructure will not work and does not constitute proper planning. If a developer decides not to develop his land, important infrastructure is not built. Proper planning requires that money is provided to develop badly needed infrastructure. This matter must be addressed.

The Bill refers to contribution levies. We heard that these levies will not hinder the establishment of new business and business people know what will costs they will incur before they start a development. On the contrary, these levies are anti-competitive and hinder business. They are wrong and amount to another high tax which people must pay in one lump sum at the start of a development. The development levy was introduced during the good times as a way of reducing Government funding to local authorities. I blame the former Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, for this clever ploy introduced to shove the costs of Government onto other people. At one time, more than 90% of the cost of infrastructure provided by county councils was met by national taxes. Nowadays, one is fortunate if the Government meets 60% of the costs and 40% are raised locally through contribution levies and other charges. The levies are wrong and are a sneaky way to do business because they mean the cost of infrastructure is not spread across the community through the tax system. This problem is preventing development in certain areas and will lead to job losses.

The legislation refers to taking account of an applicant's previous history when he or she seeks approval for a new development. It also apparently gives stronger powers to a planning authority to refuse permission and refers to powers provided for under a previous planning Act. While I was pleased to learn of a case in County Wicklow in which a development was refused on the basis of the applicant's history, I have not heard of many other cases of planning authorities refusing planning applications on these grounds.

I understand from reading the legislation that the planning authorities must take cases of this nature to the High Court. This means the implementation of a basic and simple provision of the planning legislation generates significant costs for the planning authority. If somebody abuses the planning system, for example, by not finishing an estate, he or she should not be given planning permission for other developments until the previous abuse has been rectified. This decision should be automatic, in other words, a black and white issue for the local authority, and should not require taking a case to court. Local authorities should have the power to refuse all planning applications from persons with a poor record. Too many developers have left estates unfinished or built bad developments before establishing a new company and being granted permission for further developments. Ending this practice will only be possible when it becomes easy for planning authorities to enforce these provisions and they must no longer incur the substantial costs associated with taking a case to court. Local authorities cannot afford to go before the courts.

The programme for Government includes a commitment to ensure citizens information services have the necessary resources to assist and inform members of the public about planning procedures. This is an admission that county councils are not informing people about the planning process. I have spoken on numerous occasions about the need to educate people about local government, national government and the European Union. The majority of people, including me, did not had an opportunity at school to study how the political system works at local, national and European level. I accept, however, that a good system has been introduced in the education system. Rather than providing resources to citizens information services to inform people about planning, we must establish a proper system for educating members of the public about rules and regulations, including in the planning area. The library services to which people turn for information at any rate should be given this task, particularly as most libraries are operated by local authorities. The Bill should address this issue.

See this speech in context