Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 860: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the number of planning applications being declared invalid based on the Planning and Development Regulations 2001; the cost of these rejections to the ordinary householder; the representations made to his office by the RIAI and the CIF on this matter; and if he will make further regulations regarding the implementation of the existing regulations. [19180/05]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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To decide on a planning application, it is necessary for the planning authority to have received from the applicant all the information, documentation and maps which have been prescribed for the purpose of the planning application. It is also necessary that all public participation requirements of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001, that is, in respect of site notices and newspaper notices, be complied with.

The regulations make planning applicants and their agents responsible for ensuring that their planning applications comply fully with the provisions of the regulations. This allows planning authorities to concentrate on the making of decisions and thus improve the efficiency of the planning system. These improvements have been essential to process the number of applications received by planning authorities which have more than doubled compared with ten years ago, with over 88,000 applications received in 2004.

For that reason, the 2001 regulations changed the procedures relating to planning applications to make it mandatory to include all relevant parts of an application before it can be considered. My Department recommends that applicants and their agents should communicate with planning authorities, through the pre-application consultations provided for in the 2000 planning Act, or otherwise, to ensure that they fully understand the requirements and to minimise the possibility of making an invalid application. Planning authorities also publish guidance on making planning applications, on their websites or otherwise.

The administration of the 2001 regulations in relation to validating planning applications is necessarily a matter for local planning authorities and some variations in practice between planning authorities may still arise from this situation. However, as the regulations have now been in operation for three years, I would expect that planning authorities should increasingly become expert in applying them in a reasonable and pragmatic manner. While I am satisfied that the regulations are generally being operated well by planning authorities, my Department has noted the various representations points made to it on this matter. These will be taken into account in the forthcoming planning and development regulations and the draft development management guidelines, both of which will be published shortly. The new regulations will also provide for a standardised planning application form for use in all local authorities.