Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Bill. It is regrettable that this common sense legislation was not introduced earlier given the damage that has been done as a result of poor planning. Good planning will provide great benefits for individuals and communities. High quality homes should be built in areas where industry is located and facilities such as shops, health care institutions, schools and public transport should be developed in rural areas.

I have always felt sorry for people who have to travel long journeys, whether commuting to work, students going to college or others visiting hospital. We see traffic congestion throughout the country and there is much debate about long commuting times to Dublin from all parts. It is often forgotten, however, that many of the longest delays occur in places such as Claregalway on the Tuam-Galway road, which affect those travelling from north Galway, south Mayo, west Roscommon and further north. There are serious delays in travel times in those areas which affect people commuting to work in Galway city every day. It is also an issue for students travelling at weekends, as well as business people and those attending hospitals in the region. It was therefore welcome news for me to hear the Minister for Transport talking about a new public-private partnership proposal for a motorway from Gort to Oranmore, bypassing Claregalway and on to Tuam, which it would also bypass. It is hoped that will start before the end of the year.

It is indicative of the large sums of money that have been spent on transport that we now have a motorway from Dublin to Galway, which was opened by the Minister in December, ahead of time and under budget. Last weekend in Ballinasloe, some constituents of mine were saying that they can now get to Galway in 30 minutes and Dublin in 90 minutes, which is of great benefit. The motorway network is of benefit to the whole country. The Galway-Dublin motorway will mean that development along that route will be greatly increased also.

In addition to road development, it is welcome to see that by the end of this month the Government will announce the commencement of train services from Limerick to Ennis and Athenry in County Galway. It may happen before Easter and I hope the Taoiseach and Minister for Transport will be in Galway to mark that special occasion.

The use of bus corridors along the Tuam-Galway road is very welcome. Bus Éireann and private bus operators have been calling for these corridors for some time and they are now a reality. Such corridors can deal with some of the transport issues facing Claregalway, but more public transport development is also needed along with new roads to deal with current traffic congestion.

Earlier, I referred to the legacy of rezoning and bad planning which fuelled the property bubble. For all the building that went on, however, we did not have the necessary infrastructure in place. Nor was there any co-ordinated infrastructural development in the west in particular. I often wonder if Departments or State agencies speak to each other, because when water and sewerage schemes are being developed no proper consideration is given to providing gas, Eircom, ESB or broadband services. One would imagine that such basic facilities could be provided in conjunction with a water and sewerage scheme. I had to lobby the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Eamon Ryan, very hard to get extra funding for high-quality broadband in Tuam in recent times. It took me 12 months to get those broadband services included with the sewerage facilities. Now that we have a good roads programme and more such development will be introduced, I hope we will see such co-ordination in future. Hopefully we will also see broadband being introduced in conjunction with new railway lines.

The Minister spoke about greed winning out over need when it came to planning, and that certainly has been the case. We have seen houses built on huge areas of rezoned land without proper amenities being provided. The Government has talked about introducing an 80% windfall tax on all rezoning decisions and hopefully that will be put in place. We should concentrate on building houses where they are really needed, such as in Galway city which has a big waiting list. Many young families are seeking housing there, so we need to get a good building programme going. I hope that will happen. In addition to the need for housing, figures show that schools, public transport and health facilities are also required. All those issues should be dealt with quickly.

It is often assumed that small provincial towns around Galway should act as dormitory areas. While I would not accept it, if that were to be the case we will see more people travelling to Galway city from rural areas, whether for work or other reasons. Retail businesses are important in a city like Galway. I hope the development plans currently in place will include more retail units in smaller towns. The development plans should include the provision of park and ride facilities there, as is the case with other cities.

I welcome the Minister's announcement of his intention to publish a White Paper on local government. That document should provide for a transparent and coherent local government system. The Minister referred to statutory protection for whistle-blowers in the local government system, building on the approach introduced in many other areas of the public service, which I welcome. I am sure the Minister is aware of the frustration over planning delays, whether at local authority level or with An Bord Pleanála. Such delays should be improved upon. In recent years, we have seen a major increase in planning applications but things are not as busy now. It is hard to understand, however, why An Bord Pleanála is so slow in making decisions. Consistency in such decisions is required, together with consistent development plans, housing policy, regional planning guidelines and spatial strategy. The National Spatial Strategy designated gateways and hub towns, particularly on the west coast, and there was an expectation that decentralisation would follow from that, but disappointingly that was not the case. Nevertheless, I hope we can build on some of the successful decentralisation proposals we have had in the past. We should concentrate in particular on hub towns because they will find it harder to attract development compared to the gateways, which will develop anyway.

Section 23 provides for an extension of permission for a period of up to five years in circumstances where substantial work has not been carried out, but where there are commercial, economic or technical considerations beyond the control of the applicant that substantially militate against either the commencement of the development or the carrying out of substantial works. That is welcome because there are many reasons why a development could not take place within five years. The Minister has covered some of the issues, including the economic one, which was particularly pertinent when the recessionary downturn hit us. Other submissions related to the residential institution redress board and property that was not fully available, for example when building a school or a health centre. It is important to deal with this through an amendment to the Bill and I believe the Minister is considering the matter further.

Section 28 refers to An Bord Pleanála and the suggestion that the quorum for meetings be reduced from three members to two on the recommendation of the chairperson. This is something I would welcome. Planning has always been a difficult area. I was a member of Galway County Council for 17 years and I am aware there was criticism of councillors who raised section 4 motions. Many councillors felt there was no other option but to do that, because it was so difficult to get planning permission. This gave rise to certain suspicion when councillors from east Galway supported proposals in west Galway and vice versa. This area has been changed and section 4 motions are no longer used as frequently. People had to do it that way at the time in order to deal with the problem of planning permission, particularly in west Galway.

Some Deputies have referred to the issue of taking in charge of housing or residential estates by the planning authority. Section 20 deals with the issue of developers who do not finish off estates. It is very frustrating for residents of estates that are not properly completed. There are also issues with regard to apartments, such as the behaviour of tenants, taps left running, leaks in apartments and noise. I understand a Bill is to be introduced to deal with issue of noise. This is a serious problem, especially where alarms are not checked and that are left to disturb people's sleep. Often alarms go off during the day also. I realise there are probably some legal problems in this regard, but I hope they will be addressed. Section 20 also examines the question of refusing planning permission where an applicant has carried out a substantial unauthorised development. There is also an issue of cost recovery. It is important we deal with this area, particularly with regard to cases decided by An Bord Pleanála under the strategic infrastructure development provisions. I hope there will be progress in this regard.

I am very glad to see a section in the Bill to provide for removing any legal impediments to e-planning. This has been promoted by local authorities and is an area where technology is helpful. We also save money and can get information more quickly. I understand from discussion with colleagues on Galway County Council that councillors and staff have attended numerous seminars to ensure they understand the technology and how to get the best results from it. I welcome that.

The Minister spoke recently about the amount of land that has been rezoned for development and he mentioned that we had so much land zoned now that we had enough to provide development land up to 2075. That is 65 years from now. County development plans deal with a certain number of years, but we have land rezoned for 65 years hence. One would wonder why this is the case. It is ridiculous to rezone land for six or seven decades into the future. I support the Minister in what he is doing to try and rationalise the planning system. If this type of rezoning continued, we would have serious problems. As it is, we have enough problems. I would have serious concerns that we have rezoned for the next 65 years. There was, of course, a property bubble and people lost the run of themselves.

The Minister spoke about community gain. This is particularly pertinent to County Galway because of the flooding situation. Deputy English also touched on this. If we have development levies - significant sums were collected in development levies when housing was at its peak - we would like to see some of the moneys from those levies spent on flood relief work. Flooding has been a particular problem in south Galway and Ballinasloe and I was very glad to see that Ballinasloe town and County Galway have been given priority with regard to flood relief and dealing with the causes of flooding. Unlike Deputy English, I am not clear as to what caused the flooding. However, I am convinced there was never enough maintenance on our rivers and lakes and drainage committees never got enough funding to deal with the obstacles in their way, although some simple steps could have been taken to deal with the threat of flooding. I would like to see some of the moneys from the levies spent on flood relief works.

Another important issue is planning for walking and cycling routes and for other such local facilities, even if these are only local routes to schools, shops and local facilities. The provision of open space within developments is also important. I was glad to see when we had sports capital grants, that many sports fields developed through these grants provided walking routes around their perimeters. It is important for such facilities to provide a walking area and these have been welcomed by the public throughout the country. I am glad these facilities have been provided in those areas where sports grants were made available.

The Minister also raised the question of derelict sites. There is a question of the use of levies to try and encourage owners to improve these sites. I have praised the Minister on the development of motorways. However, I have noticed significant numbers of vehicles being used on roadsides to display advertising. This is probably because the motorways have moved business away from some of the restaurants, filling stations etc. along the former routes. This is a problem. We should have rest areas and places to stop along our motorways, but no doubt that will happen in due course. We should not allow vehicles advertise along the side of motorways. I would like to see proper signage at cross roads for such advertisements. People should advertise their facilities properly and not distract motorists by using cars or other vehicles.

I welcome the Bill, but regret it was not introduced earlier. Much damage has been done through irresponsible planning. However, it is still not too late to change. If we follow the right policies, we will have good planning and development in the years ahead.

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