Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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Question 134: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the consultation he had with councillors, elected by local communities, before drafting and publishing the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35972/09]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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One of the key aims of the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009 is to secure a more coherent approach to the zoning of land and a better alignment between national, regional and local planning policies and objectives. As a statutory consultee on draft development plans and local area plans, my Department regularly provides specific comments on zonings and other planning policies to councillors, with more than 300 comments submitted to planning authorities on over 80 draft development plans in the last 5 years at the plan-making or variation stages. In addition, I have issued Ministerial Directions under section 31 of the Planning Act in respect of a number of development plans where there was excessive levels of zoning and where members failed to take due account of my statutory comments and concerns. My views and the views of my Department on zoning issues have, therefore, been well articulated in recent years.

Following publication of the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009 in June, I received a detailed submission from the County and City Managers Association setting out the views of local authorities in relation to the published Bill. These views have been carefully considered by my Department and a number of changes will be brought forward at Committee Stage of the Bill. Second stage of the Bill has commenced in Seanad Éireann and will continue in the coming weeks.

I have maintained ongoing contact with the elected members' representative associations since I took office on a broad range of issues relevant to the local government sector. Detailed consultation has also taken place before and after the publication last year of the Green Paper on Local Government, which examined a broad range of issues in relation to local government. I expect that the White Paper will be published later this year.