Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 30:

In page 44, between lines 18 and 19, to insert the following:

“Amendment of section 13 of Principal Act

8. Section 13 of the Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (1):

“(1A) The initiation of a variation under this section shall be a reserved function.”.”.

The Minister of State will be aware that I have been in touch with the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government for a protracted period in seeking clarification on the role, power and right of an elected member in a planning authority, that is, elected councillors have the power to initiate a variation to a county development plan.

Clearly there are different practices across local authorities. There are a number of local authorities where councillors have initiated changes to the county development plans. There is a lack of coherence across the 31 local authorities in this matter. There was a case in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council in which the manager and the executive sought clarification and decided to get an independent view. Every time one looks for a view, one gets a different view from somebody else.

There is some ambiguity about the role and the function of elected members in initiating a variation of the county development plan. I am talking about a variation as opposed to any other mechanism, for instance, if a number of members of a local authority wished as a group to vary their development plan to have regard for a number of protected structures or an architectural conservation area - I am giving those examples as being not too controversial - some local authority members have been told by their chief executive that they cannot initiate this process.

I believe fundamentally, and there has been a judicial review on similar matters, that the making of a development plan is the most powerful instrument of an elected member in a local authority. In many ways this takes up a lot of members' time, in terms of ensuring that it is followed to the letter of the law. Members will know from their experience in local government that councillors guard that power and are very proud of their county development plans. They put in an enormous work into the county development plans. I do not have a problem with the executive initiating change and having a variation to the county development plan but it is important that members have the power and the right to initiate a variation. I say that under very definite circumstances. It is to be about process. It is not just members willy-nilly making up some idea, but it is going through a long process of giving notice. It is a public system that is transparent. A variation in the county development plan requires public consultation, a planner's report, various amendments, teasing it out and coming back. The executive has a role, as do the elected members. I want both parties to have a equal role in this. That is important.

The Minister of State will be aware that in County Meath, there has been controversy about planning issues. The elected members have successfully initiated variations. The power is there and the ministerial advisers should be telling him that it has happened. I took on the task of going around a number of local authorities to find out how many variations took place in a number of local authorities, particularly in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, because it is the local authority I know best. Clearly I can see that variations were initiated by the executive but there were also variations initiated by the elected members. It is a question of how do we start the process, how does an elected member come to a local authority and start the process. That is where the problem lies. I think there needs to be absolute clarity that elected members have a role and a function about initiating a variation of the development plan. If the members do not have any power to initiative a variation, in effect once they sign off on the county development plan, they can do sweet damn all in terms of making changes. Plans evolve, as the Minister of State knows. Plans have to have regard for change in circumstances. That is what I am trying to achieve. I do not wish to weaken or dampen down the powers or the functions of the executive. I want to put the reserved functions of the elected members on an even keel with the executive functions which the executive hold.