Seanad debates

Friday, 18 June 2021

Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021: Second Stage

 

9:30 am

Photo of Seán KyneSeán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the proposals that are laid out in this Bill. It is clear in terms of the national planning framework, regional strategies and the county development plan. Councillors must take part in much onerous work, including preparatory work, reading and understanding. It is important for that power to be given, where it is deemed necessary, first to the planning authority and to the members, if it is deemed that more time is required. Perhaps the Minister will let us know how many approaches have been made across the country in terms of a desire for this extra time.

I am a former councillor and one of the issues that comes up most often in that role relates to rural planning and the concerns around it. I know the Department is reviewing strategies in that regard at the moment, as it has in the past. There is always a concern that the instructions coming from the Department will make it harder for local people to gain planning permission. That is a concern in every county development plan and it is an area that councillors, in particular, are very conscious of in their deliberations on county development plans. That will be important.

I welcome the proposals for the extensions of planning permission where substantial works have taken place. We cannot have a situation whereby we see planning applications for major developments continuously rolling over without any works or development taking place at a time we need houses.

There are other areas at which we need to look, including historical developments, that are quite limited and complex. That is particularly true in the area of retention of works as a part of historical developments where appropriate assessment is completed but the project or works do not screen out and, indeed, it would cause more damage to reverse what was done, which also would not screen out. In those cases, it is impossible to regularise a situation. That impacts on the ability to sell that development or anything else into the future.

County development and local plans are all well and fine but the funding of local government is an area that is hugely important, although there is no time to dwell on it now. It is an area in which we need to ensure resources are available to implement the vast array of plans we have across the local government sector.

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