40% of planning refusals ‘spurious’

NEARLY 40% of all planning applications are being rendered invalid, often for exceptionally “spurious” reasons, it has been claimed.

In one case, a site notice was the wrong colour while, in a separate matter, the word “dimension” was not written in drawings submitted.

Some of the petty issues have been highlighted by the Royal Institute of Architects in Ireland (RIAI) which also noted that, in a specific application, the fee was not submitted even though the fee had been paid electronically, with proof available. In another it was because a site notice was the wrong colour.

The RIAI said, in many cases, applicants are being faced with long delays and large bills to resubmit applications when the nature of the application deficiency could have been easily dealt with at over-the-counter level.

RIAI president James Pike said, since the passage of the 2001 Planning Act, the validation system of checking planning applications for compliance with submission requirements was introduced to ensure better quality applications.

“However, in reality, the validation process has proven to be more time consuming and expensive for many applicants and the local authorities than the actual planning permission process itself.

“Some local authorities such as Limerick, Dublin, Waterford and Galway cities routinely invalidate 40% of all applications.

“Each of the Republic’s 34 planning authorities, although working to the same legislation, use different planning application forms, thus creating obvious problems for applicants and their agents. The RIAI is calling for the use of the national planning application form, unamended, by all local authorities.”

He said the RIAI also wanted the Government to ensure all local authorities validate planning applications at the counter in the planning department.

“While the majority of council are invalidating large proportions of planning applications, some councils— notably counties Galway, Sligo, Wexford and Louth — invalidate only between zero and 8% of applications,” said Mr Pike.

“The reason for such an extraordinary variance is that those authorities with low numbers validate applications on the spot — namely at the counter in the planning department. This at-the-counter process allows the applicant to deal with any problems arising in their application immediately and to resubmit within a day or so. Such a simple process ends the problem of large-scale invalidation and ends the massive waste of scarce resources involved in applicants having to reapply and local authorities having to reconsider applications.”

The RIAI said: “The delays in the present system are very costly for individuals and the public purse.”