Planning laws - Bord has to maintain its independence

THE ink is barely dry on fast-track planning proposals unveiled yesterday by Environment Minister Dick Roche and already serious questions are being raised about the ramifications of the coalition’s bid to accelerate major infrastructural projects.

Predictably, opposition parties are highly critical of this initiative, aimed at pushing through reforms of An Bord Pleanála and effectively by-passing the country’s local authorities.

Speeding up the consent process for such ventures as incinerators or port facilities should not mean diluting the public input to the planning process.