Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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157. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will clarify the precise objectives that Article 8F of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001-2022 (as inserted by SI 45/2020) provides; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22380/22]

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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158. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will clarify whether it is the case that the following scenarios (details supplied) under the Planning and Development Regulations 2001-2022 require both a licence under s.6 of the Forestry Act 2014 and planning permission under s.32 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, and whether that means that in these scenarios screening for an environmental impact assessment and or an appropriate assessment must be conducted by both the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the local planning authority and or An Bord Pleanála. [22381/22]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 157 and 158 together.

Of note, under section 30 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended (the 2000 Act), I am specifically procluded from exercising any power or control in relation to any particular case with which a planning authority or An Bord Pleanála is or may be concerned. 

Under the the 2000 Act, all development, unless specifically exempted under the 2000 Act or the Planning and Development Regulations 2001 (the 2001 Regulations), requires planning permission. Section 4(1)(i) of the 2000 Act provides that development consisting of the thinning, felling or replanting of trees, forests or woodlands or works ancillary to that development, but not including the replacement of broadleaf high forest by conifer species, is exempted development for the purposes of the 2000 Act.

An exemption at section 4 of the 2000 Act for thinning, felling or replanting of trees but specifically excluding the replacement of broadleaf high forest by conifer species from the scope of the exemption has been in place since the 2000 Act was enacted. However, since 21 September 2011, section 4(4) of the 2000 Act provides that development shall not be exempted development if an environmental impact assessment (EIA) or an appropriate assessment (AA) of the development is required.

Notwithstanding this restriction on exempted development, section 4(4A) of the 2000 Act allows the Minister to make regulations prescribing development or any class of development that is authorised, or required to be authorised under another statute, and as respects which an EIA or an AA is required, to be exempted development. 

In exercise of this power under section 4(4A) of the 2000 Act, article 8F of the 2001 Regulations (mirroring the exemption at section 4(1)(i) of the 2000 Act) retains the exemption for development (other than the replacement of broadleaf high forest by conifer species) that is licensed or approved under section 6 of the Forestry Act 2014 (No. 31 of 2014) and that consists of the thinning, felling or replanting of trees, forests or woodlands, or works ancillary thereto even where EIA and/or AA is required, on the basis that such environmental impact assessment will be carried out pursuant to the licencing processes under the Forestry Act 2014.

The purpose of the amendment to article 8F of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001, provided for in S.I. 45 of 2020 was to include a specific reference to licensing/approval provisions under section 6 of the Forestry Act 2014 (No. 31 of 2014). 

Section 4(2) of the 2000 Act allows the Minister to exempt any class of development in certain circumstances by way of regulations.  In this context, Article 6 of, and Schedule 2 to, the 2001 Regulations set out classes of development which are exempt from planning permission requirements and includes at Class 16, Part 3 of Schedule 2 “Replacement of broadleaf high forest by conifer species”, where the area involved is less than 10 hectares. This exemption was not affected by amendments made under S.I. 45 of 2020.

The Class 16 exemption is subject to general restrictions under Article 9 of the 2001 Regulations. Furthermore, Class 16 development loses its exempted development status and requires planning permission if an EIA or an appropriate assessment is required in accordance with Section 4(4) of the 2000 Act. 

With regard to EIA requirements, Article 93 and Schedule 5, Part 2 of the 2001 Regulations provide that replacement of broadleaf high forest by conifer species, where the area involved would be greater than 10 hectares must be subject to EIA, while development below that threshold may require EIA if it is considered that it would be likely to have significant effects on the environment.  Any replacement of broadleaf high forest by conifer species which would be likely to have significant effects on a European Site (a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) or a Special Protected Area (SPA), or candidate area, designated under the Habitats Directive) requires an Appropriate Assessment and therefore planning permission.

Requirements for the granting of a licence under the Forestry Regulations is a matter for the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine.