Results 8,021-8,040 of 9,814 for speaker:Steven Matthews

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (LSRD) Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (7 Sep 2021)

Steven Matthews: We might discuss the Part V stuff if we have time at the end but I would like to stick to the proposed LSRD Bill for the moment.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (LSRD) Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (7 Sep 2021)

Steven Matthews: I will take the Green Party's second slot. Why do we need a fast-track planning system? Pre-SHD, planning applications concerning approximately 80,000 or 90,000 units were being dealt with. Fast-tracking planning does not guarantee that anything will be built. For too long, planning has been a whipping boy for why development does not take place. I am interested in why we need a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (LSRD) Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (7 Sep 2021)

Steven Matthews: I will come in on the issue of the pre-application stage, the documentation that will be made available to the planning authority and this limitation on further information requests. It needs to be made very clear and imperative to developers that they bring in high-quality documentation and environmental impact assessments, that they comply with every aspect of planning requirements at the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (LSRD) Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (7 Sep 2021)

Steven Matthews: The opening statement, which I cannot find at the moment, lists who was part of the consultative forum. Was anybody with expertise in European planning law, or environmental planning law, part of that consultative forum?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (LSRD) Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (7 Sep 2021)

Steven Matthews: I thought it would have been beneficial because we have had so many judicial reviews that have been based on environmental planning law or EU environmental law and considering that SHDs have created so many judicial reviews. I thought that would have been appropriate.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (LSRD) Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (7 Sep 2021)

Steven Matthews: I get Mr. Hogan's point that this is a planning process and is not necessarily to do with environmental planning law. However, one of the complaints about SHDs is that so many judicial reviews have been brought that I would have thought it might have been informative to state the quality of documentation and things that need to be addressed in the pre-planning application process to hone...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (LSRD) Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (7 Sep 2021)

Steven Matthews: I thank Senator Fitzpatrick. I agree with her. It was a very good opportunity for the public to attend and, when the meetings were in person, to look at the presentation of it. I will now go to the third Fine Gael slot and then to the open round, in which Deputy Ó Broin has indicated and I wish to take a second slot. If members want a third round, they can put their hand up now. Do...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (LSRD) Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (7 Sep 2021)

Steven Matthews: Does Mr. Hogan wish to respond to that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (LSRD) Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (7 Sep 2021)

Steven Matthews: We are into the third round of questions now; we have covered all the members. Deputy Ó Broin had his hand up first and I will take a slot after him. The Deputy can go ahead. I see Senator Boyhan has also indicated.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (LSRD) Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (7 Sep 2021)

Steven Matthews: There is only myself and Senator Boyhan left so you have another minute.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (LSRD) Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (7 Sep 2021)

Steven Matthews: We are almost up to eight minutes, Deputy Ó Broin. I have to move on. I have a question in this open round. There are time limits on the pre-application process. The local authority has to agree to a meeting within four weeks of a request and then issue the decision, or its opinion, within four weeks, I think, of that final meeting. Is that so? Is the entire pre-application...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (LSRD) Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (7 Sep 2021)

Steven Matthews: That will be-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (LSRD) Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (7 Sep 2021)

Steven Matthews: Go ahead.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (LSRD) Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (7 Sep 2021)

Steven Matthews: Do they have to go back to section 247 or section 247(a)?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (LSRD) Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (7 Sep 2021)

Steven Matthews: On a specific point on the quality of documentation submitted with planning applications for large-scale housing developments, I note - and I have looked at many of these applications and I am sure many of the members have - an applicant will often put in the number of schools that are in an area, the capacity of those schools, but not necessarily the excess capacity or the capacity of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (LSRD) Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (7 Sep 2021)

Steven Matthews: I am not saying that they have to address the issue of school capacity. We pay a lot of attention to the utilities that are required for houses; we do not often pay enough attention to the services that are required to make them homes. We always look at waste water and drinking water capacity, and even road capacity. Public transport is another factor. I have often seen an application...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (LSRD) Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (7 Sep 2021)

Steven Matthews: Sure. I appreciate primary legislation is probably not the place to put in those specifics but it is something that could and should be addressed in those pre-planning application processes in section 247. I thank Mr. Hogan.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (LSRD) Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (7 Sep 2021)

Steven Matthews: Does Mr. Hogan have a comment on the e-planning, or the updated planning system?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (LSRD) Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (7 Sep 2021)

Steven Matthews: We seem to have lost Mr. Ryan at this point.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (LSRD) Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (7 Sep 2021)

Steven Matthews: I agree with Mr. Ryan. One of the good things about the SHDs, if one is allowed to say something good about them, is that the websites were of quite good quality and they were often much easier to navigate and to see the documentation and drawings than would have been the case had it been a normal section 34 application through one’s local authority. That was my experience, having...