Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 131: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government his plans to introduce legislation to ensure that rezoning proposals are decided on their merits alone and that agreements and contacts between developers and local community bodies to provide community facilities dependent on rezoning being approved will be made illegal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7898/11]

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Decisions regarding the zoning of land are a reserved function of local authority elected members under the statutory development plan and local area plan processes. In accordance with Part II of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, the members of a planning authority are restricted to considering the proper planning and sustainable development of the area in question when making, reviewing or varying a development plan or making, amending or revoking a local area plan.

My Department's Guidelines for Planning Authorities on Development Plans (2007) clearly state that, in setting objectives for the zoning of land, an appropriate balance needs to be struck between:

- making sure that enough land is zoned to meet the anticipated economic and social development needs and to allow for an element of choice over the plan period and for a reasonable period beyond (e.g. 3 years), and

- avoiding the zoning of too much land, thereby creating a situation where priorities for development are not clear and where as a result it is difficult to secure an orderly and progressive approach to the development of that area, particularly in the provision of essential infrastructure and services.

Under Part III of Schedule I of the Planning Acts, development plans may also include specific objectives in relation to facilitating the provision and siting of services and facilities necessary for the community, including, inter alia , health care, cultural, community, recreational and amenity facilities.

As a statutory consultee on draft development plans and draft local area plans, my Department provides constructive comments and advice to planning authorities in respect of policies set down in these plans, including where appropriate advice regarding the scale and location of lands proposed for zoning.

Moreover, the 2010 Planning and Development (Amendment) Act introduced a number of reforms to the development plan process to provide for greater consistency of plans at regional, city/county and local levels, to require a core strategy to be incorporated into development plans and to reinforce the practice of developing evidence-based policy objectives into future development plans. These new provisions are currently being reflected and implemented in new development plans and variations to existing plans.