I thank the Deputy for her favourable welcome of this move before using the word "but". While understanding a certain amount of impatience on the part of Members on all sides of the House and within local authorities with regard to the planning process and its review, my specific aim, although probably giving hostages to fortune — the closing date for submissions to the planning review was Friday last, 10 October — is to be as open and flexible as possible. If anybody has a major submission to make over the next couple of weeks they can be assured it will not be rejected. Consideration has been ongoing since submissions were first received. That process will continue and it is hoped the convention will take place before the end of next month. That will allow us complete the review early in 1998, following which I will be in a position to begin drafting the legislation. If we can get through that process, we should be able to complete a major planning Bill by the summer recess.
On land use planning guidelines, the Deputy will be aware the Department has been working on a series of guidelines on land use policy over the past two years. During the term of the previous Government, guidelines were issued on telecommunications antennae and support structures and on wind farm developments. Draft consultation guidelines have been published in relation to forestry; the final form of those will be published shortly. Further commitments have been made to publish guidelines on amenity landscapes, the scope and content of development plans and archaeology. Those guidelines are in the pipeline but if people believe there is a need for additional guidelines, I am prepared to listen to suggestions.
Although it was not in the specific question, the Deputy is correct in highlighting one of the commitments in the programme for Government, namely, the provision of more qualified planners at local authority level. The two professional bodies representing planners, the RTPI and the IPI, have expressed concern about the low number of professionally qualified planners employed in local authority planning. My Department has advised both bodies that the matter should be raised more appropriately with the Local Government Management Services Board. We have arranged an introduction to the board for these two bodies and I believe the IPI has made arrangements to meet the board to discuss the matter. This is an issue to which I will give my attention because it is important that we have suitably qualified planners in each local authority area.