Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 7:

In page 5, between lines 27 and 28, to insert the following: “(6A) Any decision of a local authority to initiate a process to extend the duration of a development plan under this section or section 11D(1), shall require an associated resolution of the members of the planning authority in respect of such an extension in accordance with subsection (2), and such an extension shall not have effect, until the obligations under subsections (2) to (10) of section 11D have been addressed, and subsections (12) to (14) of section 11D shall apply as if to an extension made under that section.”.

This is again on the three quarters issue. It is really about addressing ambiguity. It could be argued that the resolution in the new section 9A(2) of the three quarters of members to approve the extension, applies to any of the multiple extensions that could arise under section 9A or section 11D. However, it is not clearly worded, so we want to make it clear that such a resolution is necessary. I know members of Government parties in the Seanad said that three quarters was too high. However, this is a significant decision, to effectively suspend the progress of the most fundamental cornerstone of planning in our system, the county development plans. It is also not clear if section 11D(1) allows for a further extension, or if it tries to do all the necessary things to follow through on extensions proposed under section 9A. Most importantly, section 11D only introduces the strategic environmental assessment, SEA, and appropriate assessment, AA, checks. It is ambiguous and unclear whether these AA and SEA checks apply to all the points at which an extension can be granted under section 9A or under section 11D.