Vol. 529 No. 1
803 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if he will further increase the size of extensions which are exempt from the requirement to apply for planning permission to reduce the number of planning applications that are being dealt with by councils in view of the current shortage of planning staff. [1291/01]
As a result of the commitment made in the Government's Action on Housing to improve the deployment of existing planning resources, the Local Government (Planning and Development) Regulations, 2000, were made on 22 June 2000 with a view to freeing up resources in the planning system. The main effect of these regulations is to increase the size of domestic extensions that are exempt from the requirement to obtain planning permission from 23 square metres to 40 square metres, subject to compliance with specific conditions and limitations. In addition, they contain a number of conditions designed to ensure that the changes in relation to exempted development extensions do not result in any injury to the amenities of adjoining properties.
My Department is monitoring the effect of these regulations over the first year. I have no plans to further increase the exempted limit at this time.
