Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 498: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the fact that some county councils are not compliant with the provisions of section 247 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 in that records of pre-application meetings are not kept in planning application files and that many councils are operating a system of informal meetings outside the provisions of section 247 thus creating a system of selective recording of pre-application meetings. [37771/05]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Under section 247 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 a person who has an interest in land and who intends to make a planning application to the planning authority may with the agreement of the planning authority concerned, which shall not be unreasonably withheld, enter into pre-application consultations in regard to the proposed development. Section 247 also provides that a planning authority is required to keep a written record of such pre-consultation meetings.

My Department recently issued for public consultation draft development management guidelines for planning authorities, which are a step-by-step guide to all stages of the planning application process, beginning with pre-application consultations. These guidelines advise that informal advice provided over the phone, by e-mail or at planning clinics provides a valuable service to the public. They also state, however, that where there is a discussion of a specific development on a specific site, there is a requirement, in accordance with section 247, to keep a written record of the discussion and to keep a copy of that record with the documents relating to any subsequent planning application.

I am not aware of any problems arising in regard to the implementation of this section. I am happy, however, that the draft guidelines should assist all planning authorities in establishing proper systems to manage pre-application discussions.