Vol. 441 No. 1
105 Mr. D. Ahern asked the Minister for the Environment the situation regarding the interpretation of original floor area in the planning regulations, that is if the original floor area is calculated as that which existed when a house was built or is it calculated as that which existed at 1 October 1964; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The expression "original floor area" is used in Class I of Part I of the Third Schedule to the Local Government (Planning and Development) Regulations, 1977, which provides that certain domestic extensions are exempted development for planning purposes where the original floor area of the dwellinghouse is not increased by more than 23 square metres.
The determination of any question as to what, in any particular case, is or is not development or exempted development is, under section 5 (as amended) of the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963, a matter for An Bord Pleanála. I understand that the Board decided recently that the original floor area of a particular dwellinghouse was to be calculated by reference to the floor area of the house at the time it was built. However, bearing in mind the provisions of section 5, that decision cannot be regarded as a generally applicable precedent.
