Bord Pleanála overrun in 20% of cases

An Bord Pleanála’s caseload has fallen by more than two thirds since the peak of the construction boom, yet it is still only dealing with 80% of the cases on time.

The planning board’s latest report for 2011 shows it dealt with 2,110 planning issues that year, compared to a peak of 6,664 in 2007.

Chairwoman Mary Kelly said that fall “enabled the compliance level with the statutory time objective of 18 weeks to rise to an overall 81% level for the year”.

However, the report also admits that while compliance is up from 63% in 2010, it is still well below the 90% target.

“Failure to reach the 90% target can be attributed to a larger than usual number of cases requiring further information at board level and the departure towards the end of the year, without replacement, of four board members,” said the report.

“The average time taken to dispose of cases for the year was 18.5 weeks (19.7 in 2010), which did not reach the intended target of below 18 weeks.”

And the board itself predicts that compliance will be worse again this year.

“It is anticipated that the annual time objective compliance rate for 2012 will at best reach 50% of all cases determined within the year,” said the report. “The board’s view is that movement back towards the 80-90% compliance level is at this stage only a realistic target for 2013.”

An Bord Pleanála reversed the planning decisions of local planning authorities in 31% of cases. That compared to 36% in 2010.

The report also reveals that from Jan 1, 2012, the chairperson’s pay rate fell to €189,474 (personal pension contribution rate) or €180,000 (non-PPC rate).