Results 4,381-4,400 of 9,814 for speaker:Steven Matthews

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: I ask Ms Cadell not to go into specifics.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: I ask for a brief answer, if possible.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: We can come back to it given that development plans and various other plans have been replaced and this is an important aspect.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: If Mr. Mandal gets two or three questions, I do not want him to have to rush two or three answers because we will get time as we go through. We are here until 6 p.m. I just need to keep to seven-minute slots because I do not know how many people will come to ask questions but we can come back to the issue of the development plan.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: I thank Senator Cummins. I will take the next slot. We can come back to Deputy Higgins's questions that were unanswered. On the proposed amendments to section 5, we did not hear any evidence from anybody that came in from planning representatives, local authorities, anybody at all, that section 5 was problematic in its current form in the current Act. As a committee, I will not speak on...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: I will expand on that question. Most residents' associations have a chair, a treasurer and probably a secretary, probably those three positions filled. If they were to be the named persons on the observation, would that satisfy the difficulty of having to go around and collect all the names, knocking on doors like a census collector and not finding people in? We know the difficulties...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: That would be section 303.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: Section 303(1)(b).

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: A very strong point was made that unincorporated associations have existed in many forms, for example the GAA was listed and voluntary sports clubs and so on. I am not sure that it is even necessary to put the three names on it, but if it was a requirement, the term "legal personality" was used, not in relation to an observation or a submission, that was in regard to a judicial review, but I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: In Mr. Heneghan's experience, why do people worry about putting their names on planning observations?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: That would probably be fuelled by the narrative that we see out there such as the phrases "not in my back yard, NIMBY," and the phrase "residents are blocking everything and object to everything". In fact, a submission or an observation is merely that, an observation on a planning application. An observation cannot stop a planning application. A person can go to the board or go to judicial...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: Then there is the difficulty of collecting the 100 names and some people will not be contactable, they are away and there is a timeline on it, or they just do not want to be in the spotlight. Using the names of the chair, the secretary and the treasurer might overcome that difficulty.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: I have never put in a planning submission as part of a residents' association because I am not in one, but it is also my experience that some people feel slightly intimidated and do not want to be seen making trouble. It is your right; it is your area. You should have an input, as you do through electing councillors who craft the plan on which the decisions are made, and the ability to make...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: The other side of that question is, how do you ensure it is representative? I have been to public meetings before which were attended by residents of an area about something like trying to build a pedestrian permeability link to estates for easier access and walking to school, etc. The general tone in the room is, we do not want this, absolutely no way. That would be the general tone in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: I will move on. I do not know whether Deputy McAuliffe is online or in the Chamber. I can skip over him and bring him in next. That would make the next slot the second Green Party slot. We spoke much about the conflict in planning, where we have objections to what is proposed or applied for. Ms Foster said that there is no consultation with residents and the developers seem to get a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: Is it like strategic development zones, where one knew what they were, within reason?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: As a matter of interest, does the Netherlands have the third-party appeals process and then observations and appeals?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: That will bring certainty to everybody in the process, the residents, the applicants, and the developers. Does Mr. Mandal want to come in?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: Deputy Ó Broin raised this in one of the previous sessions with the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland, RIAI, and they talked about 3D. A lot of people will look at a development plan map and cannot picture in their mind what a purple, yellow or pink zone is, or what 20 or 40 to the hectare might mean. People cannot visualise that and I think that is why we then have the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: I have often heard it said that the development plan is a land use plan and not a delivery plan. There can be some confusion around that as well on submissions that I have seen where it is not really about the land use of the optimum or best way but it is about actually delivering some piece of infrastructure, which is outside the local authority's remit.