Results 4,521-4,540 of 8,220 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 22: In page 8, between lines 37 and 38, to insert the following: “Insertion of section 32L into Principal Act 32L. Where an application for planning permission to which section 32A(1) applies has been granted but construction has not commenced on that site within a period of 48 months following the decision of the planning authority, such planning permission...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I ask the Minister to comment on amendment No. 22, which relates to these proposals in terms of where an application has been granted but construction has not commenced in a period of 48 months. That is these large-scale residential developments. We sought a use-it-or-lose-it clause for strategic housing developments but we did not get an effective clause. That is one of the reasons we...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 23: In page 8, between lines 37 and 38, to insert the following: “Insertion of section 32M into Principal Act 32M. Where more than seven successful judicial reviews have been taken in respect of an applicant under section 32A(1), the applicant shall not be eligible to apply for permission under section 32A(1) for a period of 10 years subsequent to the final...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will withdraw the amendment because I want to reword it. It is not simply with judicial reviews. The core issue is partly with An Bord Pleanála. A proposed development may get planning permission from An Bord Pleanála and get built. A very similar proposal may be challenged in a judicial review and be rightly overturned as not being compliant with the laws. There is an issue...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 24: In page 8, between lines 37 and 38, to insert the following: “Insertion of section 32N into Principal Act 32N. In the rendering of decisions in respect of applications under section 32A(1), the planning authority shall act in a manner consistent with the local development plan and county development plan of the local\authority area in which permission is...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: An Bord Pleanála as well.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I propose to withdraw amendment No. 24. Amendment No. 28 involves a longer conversation but a question does arise. These are big-ticket items, of 500, 800 or 1,000 units. They can change an entire town or area, often very much for the better, but it is a matter of having the arrangement I describe. It is a little different when talking about very large moving pieces or an LRD, potentially...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 25: In page 8, between lines 37 and 38, to insert the following: "Insertion of section 32O into Principal Act 32O.Where an applicant has received LRD planning permission and wishes to sell the site, the applicant shall not do so with the LRD planning permission attached to it. Thus, the LRD planning permission is granted exclusively to the applicant, on the...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: As regards the example of the farmer, let us be clear that the amendment would not apply to all planning permission. This is about large-scale residential development. It is planning permission for 500 units or 400 units.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: More than 100 units. That is substantial. With respect, if a person is applying for planning permission and asking that the planning process to trust them-----

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: -----then that person should know what they are doing with it. If you are looking for planning permission to build more than 100 housing units and asking the apparatus of the State to support you in a streamlined process to get planning permission to build 100 units, you should mean it. You should be planning to build 100 units.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am trying to say that they need to deliver. If we talk about the law of unintended consequences, let us be clear-----

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am not taking land off anybody. They are free to sell or not to sell. I am not taking land from anybody. What I am saying is that if you apply for planning permission for a large-scale residential development, you should be doing so with the intention of building. As the Senator pointed out, this is not one, two or five houses; it is more than 100 units. This is not my preferred...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will be clear on this. The issue is that we have not learned from the SHDs. The Minister stated that this is a completely different process and that there are various incentives. We hear a lot about the incentives and the many carrots for developers but there needs to be a stick somewhere. That stick needs to be a use-it-or-lose-it clause. It is simply not enough to say we have done...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 28: In page 9, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following: “(b) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (1A): “(1C) Where a planning authority receives an application for permission to which section 32A(1) applies, observations shall be sought and recorded from individuals and groups and the planning authority shall have due...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 29: In page 9, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following: “(c) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (1A): “(1D) Where a planning authority receives an application for permission to which section 32A(1) applies it shall publish such an application on its website.”.”.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 30: In page 9, to delete lines 19 to 27. This amendment seeks to delete page 9, lines 19 to 27. Those lines provide: [...] the planning authority concerned shall, notwithstanding section 34(2)(a), be restricted in its determination of the application, other than in respect of any assessment of the effects of the proposed development on the environment, to...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: While it is good that the application will go back to the planning authority, the authority is then constrained in what it can do with it. I noted the exception to environmental factors and I imagine it is due to the Aarhus Convention and the rights in respect of environmental planning and the rights of the public to consultation, which is a core issue. This is a second pass. It is a pass...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 31: In page 9, line 22, after “environment” to insert the following: “, changes in building and planning guidelines, obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with a Disability or other such issues that may have arisen as part of an area development planning process”.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I have a lot of concerns about section 6, and it is important for the Minister to clarify them. These are significant changes that do not relate solely to large-scale residential developments. They are changes in respect of the principal Act and its functioning. They are changes in respect of our planning system and, indeed, our legal system and its operation. It is, therefore, quite a...