Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There will be no change in the status of the county development plan and local area plans will be done at district and municipal level. We have the national spatial strategy, regional planning guidelines, the county development plan process, local area plans and municipal level. The hierarchy is familiar to everybody. Local elected members will have a more devolved say at local area plan level, without reference at plenary level to other parts of the county or city.

These amendments are with regard to community and economic plans and not on county development plans. They consider how we will set in train specific provision for the community as well as an economic plan. There will be economic plans in the future but they will not be merely spatial or physical development plans. It will be an integrated approach to take account of the economy, the environment and the community. It will be drawn up in parallel and integrated and subsequently approved by local elected members.

With regard to the specific concerns expressed by Deputy Cowen on what is happening in the midlands and wind energy, we are conscious of the fact all local policy must be underpinned by national policy. This is why national and regional guidelines which have been laid down must be adhered to by local elected members and local authorities in the context of their development plans. With regard to wind energy, work is being done by the Department and Minister with responsibility for energy on a national policy on renewables and general energy. I understand local authorities will consider varying the plans on wind energy when they know exactly the national policy which will underpin it. It does not affect or provide any moratorium on existing development plans; it is in the context of plans being drafted or examined at present which have not been adopted yet.

There will be no moratorium on existing planning applications going through Offaly County Council or Westmeath County Council, most of which I presume will subsequently end up before An Bord Pleanála or if there are major projects that are before the board in terms of the strategic infrastructure that they have indicated in their application. However, it would make sense in the context of the development plans that are being examined currently for the elected members to be mindful of the fact that work is being done on a national basis and they can vary their wind strategy accordingly when they see how it fits in with national policy that is likely to emerge in the autumn of this year.

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