Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1522. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the number and names of local authorities that have completed educational impact assessments on residential zoning to identify potential need for schools. [33686/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The information requested is not available in my Department.

In this connection, The Provision of Schools and the Planning System - A Code of Practice was jointly published, in August 2008, by my Department and the Department of Education and Skills. The Code of Practice sets out co-ordinated actions to be taken in relation to forecasting future demand for school places by the Department of Education and Skills and planning for the provision of school sites within the planning system, as well as the efficient handling of planning applications and associated consultations by the relevant planning authorities to expedite school delivery.  With regard to assessing the implications of local authority development planning on the issue of schools and school provision in a given area, local authorities are obliged under the Code of Practice to take this matter into account in preparing and finalising their local area and development plans, working in conjunction with the relevant forward planning and new school sections of the Department of Education and Skills.

Furthermore, section 10(2)(l) of the Planning and Development Act 2000 requires a development plan to include objectives for “the provision, or facilitation of the provision, of services for the community including, in particular, schools, crèches and other education and childcare facilities”.  This requirement is restated in my Department’s 2007 Development Plan Guidelines for Planning Authorities.

In addition, a Memorandum of Understandinghas been agreed between the Department of Education and Skills, the City and County Management Association and my Department in relation to the acquisition of sites for schools by local authorities.

The Guidelines for Planning Authorities on Local Area Planspublished on 25 June, 2013 highlight the importance of local authority engagement and co-operation with the Department of Education and Skills, particularly through the foregoing mechanisms, and recommend that local area plans provide a realistic phasing timetable to ensure that the provision of school facilities is delivered in conjunction with the phased construction of housing.

Both I and the Minister for Education and Skills are statutory consultees for the purposes of local authority development plans.  My Department continues to work pro-actively with the Department of Education and Skills in ensuring the issue of schools provision is properly addressed both in local authority plans and that new schools are delivered in a timely and cost-effective manner and in line with the proper planning and sustainable development of the areas in which they are needed.