'Chronically underfunded' planning service misses 100% of deadlines in complex cases

An Bord Pleanála chair, Oonagh Buckley (pictured), will tell the committee that the future commission “must operate as efficiently as possible” while pointing out that complex and larger developments have taken some time to reach a decision on. File picture:Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

The planning service in Ireland is "chronically underfunded", the Office of the Planning Regulator (OPR) will today tell TDs and Senators at the Oireachtas housing committee.

The OPR and An Bord Pleanála are both due to appear before elected officials, and will warn against the introduction of fines in instances where planning decisions are made after deadlines.

Further, An Bord Pleanála will say that it has not met its standard timelines in 100% of complex cases, which required the likes of an oral hearing or further information to be submitted.

The Government’s new proposed planning laws, which would signal a major overhaul of Irish planning, are being put under scrutiny by the Oireachtas Housing Committee.

Part of the bill proposes that An Bord Pleanála, which will be renamed An Comisúin Pleanala, would have to pay fines if planning decisions missed set guidelines. Currently, the board must pay €10,000 if it misses a 16-week turnaround on Strategic Housing Development (SHD) fast-track applications.

The planning board has previously admitted it is missing its statutory deadline in a large number of cases. The new laws would also change the process for taking judicial reviews and restructure An Bord Pleanála.

An Bord Pleanála chair, Oonagh Buckley, will tell the committee that the future commission “must operate as efficiently as possible” while pointing out that complex and larger developments have taken some time to reach a decision on.

“Such cases will, by their very nature, take longer than the mandated timeframes,” she will say. “In fact, in past years, when operating without a backlog, the board did not meet the standard operating timeline in 100% of cases.” 

On the issue of fines, Ms Buckley will pose the query: “Is an approach whereby fines from the public purse are paid to developers the best way to deal with delays, or are there other effective measures that could be taken to ensure that the future Commission works to its mandated timelines in the majority of cases and that its management is accountable for delivering that?” 

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Meanwhile, the OPR will tell the committee that there must be a coherence across a range of policy levels such as climate action, public safety and housing supply to ensure the planning process runs smoothly.

“We cannot function as an effective overseer of the planning process without this,” it will say.

“The historic and structural underfunding of our planning processes is all the more remarkable when one considers how central the planning process is to building anything in this country – homes, infrastructure, schools, flood defences, renewable energy infrastructure.” 

It said it disagreed with the concept of fines for failures to meet statutory deadlines and that the new laws must bring clarity to the role of different people in accessing justice via Judicial Review.