Seanad debates

Wednesday, 19 December 2018

Local Government Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages

 

10:30 am

Photo of John Paul PhelanJohn Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Senator Buttimer has pointed out a couple of things, and I will read out what he has referenced. He has not been here for many years for no reason.

Section 21(5) reads:

On or before the 7th day of each month during the period from the commencement of this section until 31 December 2020, each chief executive shall—(a) prepare and submit to the oversight committee a report in relation to the measures adopted to ensure full and effective compliance with this Act, and

(b) provide a copy of that report to each member of the local authority of which he or she is the chief executive.

In one sense it is a little bit different from what the Senator proposed, but it does ensure that local authority members, until 31 December 2020, receive a review on the 7th day of each month.

My colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy English, has another planning and development Bill in the pipeline for the new year. There have been several such Bills. They appear more frequently than local government Bills now. Many of the issues raised by the Senator are planning and development issues. They become boundary issues when wrong planning and development happens on one side of a boundary. We need to ensure that the Government has approved, amended or kicked out, as it were, the metropolitan governance report that has been prepared by the Department. The Cork area strategic plan, CASP, produced the land use transportation strategy, LUTS, document. Kilkenny and Waterford produced the planning land use and transport strategy, PLUTS, about 20 years ago. It is still a brilliant plan, although I am not sure if the LUTS plan is completely relevant. CASP is the modern equivalent of it. The idea is that the metropolitan governance structure, which would be established with councillors from both authorities, will be in charge of implementing the relevant plan in Cork and for every other city in the country. I hope that answers the Senator's question. Her amendment is partially covered in the short term by section 21, which deals with compliance.

Ultimately, I intend to ensure that the metropolitan governance structure, which will comprise elected politicians from adjoining areas, will have oversight of planning matters. I am not talking about the minutiae of making decisions on applications but designating areas in the city regions we are talking about that will be suitable for housing, industrial development, offices, retail and green space. It will also cover the transportation strategy. It would make no sense not to have some sort of overarching structure in the Cork catchment area and not just in the city and the expanded city, which will look at the needs of the people the Senator spoke about, who might be living in Midleton, Macroom or Mallow. We have to facilitate those people to continue to do that, but we must also consider that we will have more people living in our city centres in the future. Cork is a great example of how that can happen.

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