A major concern behind the revision of the planning code which occurred in 2000 was to ensure increased compliance with planning law, in response to complaints about failures in the planning enforcement system from both individuals and local authorities. The introduction of a culture of enforcement is critical to ensure that the planning control system works properly and for the benefit of the whole community.
Part VIII of the Planning and Development Act 2000 greatly simplified the existing statutory provisions to make it easier for planning authorities to take enforcement action in cases of breaches in the planning code. The Act also made a number of significant improvements to the enforcement provisions for persons who make complaints, in particular that all well founded complaints must be investigated by the planning authority and that complainants must be told of the progress of their complaint. The Act also contains special provisions relating to certain issues that were difficult to address through the normal enforcement process, including applications by persons who have repeatedly breached previous planning permissions, unfinished housing estates and quarries.
While these provisions set out a strong legal framework for planning authorities to take enforcement action where necessary, statutory responsibility for the operation of the planning code is vested in each individual planning authority. Decisions on enforcement in particular cases are, therefore, matters for the planning authorities in question.
My Department has been concerned in recent years to ensure that planning authorities have sufficient resources available to them to carry out their functions under the Planning Act. The Department has assisted planning authorities in the recruitment of planning staff by sanctioning additional planning posts, by liaising with the education sector on ways of training more planners and, as an interim measure, by assisting with the recruitment of planners from abroad. The latest figures provided by planning authorities show that there were a total of 1,567 staff, professional, technical and administrative, employed in planning departments in the county and city councils in March 2004. This is an increase of 43% over the numbers employed three years ago. The 2000 Act also allows planning authorities to recoup the cost of each enforcement action directly from the developer and to benefit from any fines imposed by the courts.
Part VIII was commenced on 11 March 2002. While it is early to establish its impact on the overall level of enforcement activity by planning authorities, preliminary figures on enforcement actions by planning authorities in 2003 indicate that there has been an increase in the level of convictions, as compared to 2002.
Additional information not given on the floor of the House.
The Ombudsman in her recent report also acknowledged that there appears to have been some improvement in local authority performance on enforcement generally, although she noted that it is too early to make an accurate assessment based on performance over a period of less than two years since the introduction of the Act.
I will continue to keep under review the implementation of the enforcement provisions of the 2000 Act. Issues such as enforcement are regularly raised through the formal consultation mechanism established between the city and county managers association and my Department, and I will continue to press planning authorities to improve their performance on planning enforcement. I also welcome the statement by the Ombudsman that she intends to continue to monitor whether the Act is being properly and fully utilised and to be proactive in protecting public confidence in the planning system.
