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Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 2 Nov 1999

Vol. 509 No. 6

Written Answers. - Local Authority Housing.

Noel O'Flynn

Question:

430 Mr. O'Flynn asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the obligations on a local authority to take in charge responsibility for roads and open spaces in housing developments provided in the functional area of that authority by another local authority. [21506/99]

The provisions for the taking in charge of estates do not differentiate between private developers and a local authority carrying out a development outside its functional area. The relevant planning permission sets out the standards for roads and open spaces. There is no statutory obligation on a planning authority to take in charge any housing estate.

Section 11(1) of the Roads Act, 1993, gives a road authority the power, by order, to declare any road within its functional area over which a public right of way exists to be a public road. The road authority must publish a notice indicating the road that it proposes to be a public road. Under article 5 of the Roads Regulations 1994 – SI No. 119 of 1994 – where it is proposed to declare public the roads of a housing estate, this notice must state the name and location of the estate.

New requirements on planning authorities concerning the taking in charge of housing estates are provided in the Planning and Development Bill, 1999. The Bill provides that where an estate has been completed to the satisfaction of the local authority, the authority must take an estate in charge when the developer or a majority of the residents request that the authority do so through the procedures set out in the Roads Act, 1993. Where an estate is unfinished, and a majority of the residents so request, the planning authority will be obliged to take the estate in charge after seven years. The Bill is currently before the Seanad.

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