Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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Question 183: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the responsibilities which he intends should not be shifted from local authorities to private management companies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7601/06]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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My Department issued a circular letter on 25 January 2006 reminding local authorities of their obligations under section 180 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 to begin the procedures to take in charge the public services of housing estates once these are completed to a satisfactory standard, where they are requested to do so by the developer or a majority of the residents of the housing development. The circular letter also clearly stated that the existence of a management company to maintain elements of common buildings, carry out landscaping, etc., must not impact upon the decision by the authority to take in charge roads and related infrastructure where a request to do so is made.

The position remains that once housing developments are taken in charge, it is the local authority's responsibility to maintain public infrastructure such as roads, footpaths, sewers, water mains and public lighting.

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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Question 184: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number of unauthorised developments reported to local authorities in the years 2003, 2004 and 2005; the percentage of same which resulted in court actions, judgments and convictions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7602/06]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The report, Service Indicators in Local Authorities 2004, showed that 10,176 complaints regarding unauthorised developments were investigated by planning authorities. As this was the first national report on service indicators, no comparable information is available in respect of 2003.

In my Department's annual planning statistics, which are based on information returned by planning authorities, the number of prosecutions and convictions for unauthorised development in 2003 and 2004 is as set out in the following table.

It should be noted that the figure for convictions is not directly relatable to the figure for complaints or prosecutions, as judgments may be given in a particular year in respect of complaints or prosecutions initiated in a previous year and complaints or prosecutions initiated in a particular year may not decided until a subsequent year.

It should also be noted that the number of complaints received by a planning authority in regard to unauthorised developments may be resolved through the issuing of warning letters or enforcement notices; only a small number of cases require to be prosecuted through the courts. I expect that the 2005 figures will be available by July 2006.