Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this important matter, which I take with the permission of the House on behalf of my colleague, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government.

The Minister of State considers it appropriate that planning permissions be subject to a time restriction to ensure that only bona fide developments likely to proceed to construction in the short to medium term are submitted for planning approval. Accordingly, the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, provides that, unless otherwise specified, the duration of a permission is restricted to a period of five years beginning on the date of the granting of permission. This five-year limitation, which is aimed at ensuring regulated development control, is considered reasonable in the circumstances.

Section 28 of the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2010 amended section 42 of the 2000 Act to provide that the duration of a permission may be extended for a further five-year period where substantial works have not been carried out or where the development has not even commenced in cases where the planning authority is satisfied that there were factors of a commercial, economic or technical nature beyond the control of the applicant which substantially militated against either the commencement of development or the carrying out of substantial works on the development in the original five-year timeframe. This provision is, however, subject to the submission of an application for extension of the duration of permission prior to the expiry of the original permission. Where an application is submitted, the planning authority must be satisfied that there have been no significant changes in the development objectives in the local development plan or in regional development objectives in the relevant regional planning guidelines since the date of the original permission such that development would no longer be consistent with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area. It is also subject to the requirement that the development is not inconsistent with proper planning and sustainable development of the area, having regard to any planning guidelines issued by the Minister under section 28 of the Act after the date of the granting of the original permission. Where the development has not commenced, the planning authority must also be satisfied that an environmental impact assessment or an appropriate assessment, or both of those assessments if required, were carried out prior to the granting of the original permission.

While the possibility of obtaining a second extension of permission was previously available to all holders of planning permission under the provisions of the 2000 Act, this was considered too open-ended. Consequently, the provision was removed via the 2010 Act on the basis that it was considered reasonable that a development should be completed within ten years of the original permission being granted. Where a development proposal is not completed within this timeframe, it is considered appropriate that it be required to go through the planning process again in order to ensure that it remains a viable and sustainable development and to give the public the opportunity to make submissions and observations on the proposed development, having regard to the time that has elapsed since the original granting of permission. Accordingly, the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, has no plans to review the current practice of only allowing one five-year extension to planning permissions at this time.