Written answers

Tuesday, 25 April 2006

Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government

Planning Issues

9:00 pm

Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)
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Question 992: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government what constitutes a local person in the context of the 2005 rural planning guidelines; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15057/06]

Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)
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Question 995: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if children born in an area are constituted as local in the context of the 2005 rural planning guidelines; if this should be taken into account in the overall evaluation of a family; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15060/06]

Photo of Dick RocheDick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 992 and 995 together.

The sustainable rural housing guidelines for planning authorities provide that development plans should set out the categories of persons who are considered to have rural-generated housing needs. Suggested categories include persons who are an intrinsic part of the rural community such as farmers and their families, people who have lived most of their lives in rural areas and returning emigrants. Other suggested categories include persons working full-time or part-time in rural areas such as those involved in farming, forestry, inland waterway or marine related occupations, and people whose work is intrinsically linked to rural areas, such as teachers in rural schools.

The guidelines make clear that the foregoing list is not intended to be exhaustive and that it is a matter for each planning authority to make its own assessment of the scope and extent of rural housing needs to be catered for in its development plan, taking account of local conditions and relevant planning issues.

Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)
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Question 993: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government what constitutes a medical condition in the context of the rural planning guidelines 2005; if a planner can overrule a medical consultant's professional opinion; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15058/06]

Photo of Dick RocheDick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The sustainable rural housing guidelines for planning authorities state that planning authorities should recognise that exceptional health circumstances, supported by relevant documentation from a registered medical practitioner and a disability organisation, may require a person to live in a particular environment or close to family support. A planning authority should consider granting permission in such cases, in the absence of any strong environmental, access or traffic reasons for refusal. The application of the provisions of the guidelines in an individual case is a matter for the relevant planning authority, or An Bord Pleanála where appropriate.

Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)
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Question 994: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if his Department has outlined a certain set of rules in relation to e-mail planning submissions; his views on whether it is inconsistent for local authorities to accept same sometimes and not at other times; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15059/06]

Photo of Dick RocheDick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Section 248 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 provides that any document or other information that is required or permitted to be given in writing under the Act, or any regulations made under the Act, by any person may be given in electronic form if at the time it was given it was reasonable to expect that it would be readily accessible to the planning authority, board or other person to whom it was directed for subsequent reference or use; if such document or information is required or permitted to be given to a planning authority or the board and the planning authority or the board consents to the giving of the information in that form, but requires the information to be given in accordance with particular information technology and procedural requirements, or that a particular action be taken by way of verifying the receipt of the information, if the requirements of the planning authority or the board have been met and those requirements have been made public and are objective, transparent, proportionate and non-discriminatory; and if such document or such information is required or permitted to be given to a person who is neither a planning authority nor the board, if the person to whom the document or other information is required or permitted to be given consents to the information being given in that form. It is a matter for planning authorities to apply the terms of the legislation.

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