Vol. 417 No. 6
138 Mr. D. Ahern asked the Minister for the Environment if he has any plans to amend the planning legislation which is going through the Oireachtas at the moment to put a greater onus on local authorities to respond more quickly to planning applications by curtailing the time limits, especially that for further information; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The Local Government (Planning and Development) Bill, 1991, is concerned essentially with the appeals stage of the planning process, and I have no proposals to amend the Bill in the manner suggested. However, my Department issued a circular to planning authorities last January asking them, inter alia, to make it their objective to decide planning applications within the statutory two month period and only in exceptional circumstances to seek further information from the applicant. Where further information is necessary, planning authorities were asked to seek it as soon as possible after receipt of the application and to decide the application, as far as possible, within one month of receipt of the information. I will be monitoring the response to the January circular and will, if necessary, consider further measures to speed up the processing of applications at local level.
