Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Question 1414: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if there is any legal prohibition to permit a commercial entity advertising a product or service in a private field adjacent to a national primary or secondary route; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33768/10]

Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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My Department is currently finalising the draft Guidelines for Planning Authorities on Spatial Planning and National Roads. These draft Guidelines are aimed at ensuring that roads planning and policy, and development planning and management processes are appropriately and effectively aligned, in order to guide development to the most suitable locations to maximise the investment in the national roads network, while also encouraging a shift towards more sustainable forms of travel and transport.

Section 3.7 of the draft Guidelines outlines the legislative provisions concerning the erection of authorised advertising structures / signage, other than road traffic signs, namely that:

A licence is required under section 254 of the Planning & Development Act 2000 for a structure on, under, over or along a public road;

Consent of the relevant road authority under section 71(1)(b) of the Roads Act 1993, is required for structures / signage on a public road; and

Planning permission under section 34 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 is required for both temporary and permanent signage on private property, including in fields adjacent to motorways and national roads, and must be carefully designed in accordance with the standards of the local authority and the national roads authority, as appropriate.

While my Department will give further consideration to the matter of signage in finalising the Guidelines having regard to the submissions received under the consultation process (which closes on 30 September), the practice of parking large truck trailers off the road as a means of displaying advertising hoardings should be carefully monitored by planning authorities and enforcement steps taken as necessary under planning and other legislative codes.