Vol. 528 No. 3
159 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the total number of staffing vacancies at An Bord Pleanála and the number of those for which he has given approval to recruit replacement staff. [30192/00]
160 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the percentage of planning appeals for each of the years 1998, 1999 and to date in 2000 which have not been decided within four months. [30193/00]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 159 and 160 together.
In July of this year I approved an increase of 29 additional staff, nine professional planners and 20 administrative staff, which brings An Bord Pleanála's authorised staff complement to 134 – excluding board members. Recruitment of these additional staff is ongoing. As at end November 2000, An Bord Pleanála had vacancies for 23.5 administrative positions and for ten professional planner positions.
The percentage of appeals not decided by the board within the four month statutory objective as set down in the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1992, was 37% and 53%, in 1998 and 1999, respectively. The latest statistics, year to end October, 2000, show that 52% of cases were not decided within four months. However, the board has been giving priority to housing developments in excess of 30 units and the percentage of such cases not decided within four months was 38% in the year to end October. Details of the measures being pursued by my Department and the board to enable the board to process appeals more expeditiously are set out in my reply to a parliamentary question on 13 December 2000.
