Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 39 will amend section 169 of the principal Act to clarify that planning decisions in strategic development zones, SDZs, shall be bound by specific planning policy requirements set out in ministerial planning guidelines. Consistency of policy approaches and practices in dealing with planning applications is a key requirement for the planning process to function effectively. Statutory planning guidelines issued by the Minister under Section 28 of the principal Act are an important national policy instrument to give guidance and ensure greater consistency of approach across all local authorities. Recent amendments to the principal Act in 2015 have strengthened the scope within the publication of such guidelines to distinguish between advisory policy requirements and specific mandatory policy requirements under the provisions of section 28(1C) of the Act.

In such circumstances, where the Minister indicates in planning guidelines issued by him or her under section 28(1C) that the content of such guidelines is a specific planning policy requirement, SPPR, then local authorities must mandatorily apply these, even where their development plans might indicate otherwise. Section 28(1C) has been used sparingly but has been highly effective in bringing about more consistency in the planning system, such as in the case of the previously and increasingly disparate minimum standards specified by local authorities in regard to apartments and housing types generally, which was leading to confusion and increasing costs in residential delivery between different local authority areas.

However, some local authorities with approved planning schemes in Government-designated SDZs - some are in Dublin and there is one in my county - have questioned whether section 28(1C) applies in respect of such areas, pointing to the provisions of section 170 (2) of the principal Act which requires that no permission shall be granted for any development which would not be consistent with such an SDZ planning scheme.

In light of this, it is proposed to clarify that, similar to decisions on planning applications in a wider policy context, the decision of a planning authority in respect of a SDZ application is similarly bound by the provisions of section 28(1C), and that in addition to taking on board the requirements of such schemes, the planning authority also has to take on board relevant statutory guidelines, including the application of any specific planning policy requirements under section 28(1C), even where the requirements of an SDZ planning scheme might differ.