Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 May 2013
438. Deputy Andrew Doyle asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide an update on the length of time it is currently taking An Bord Pleanála to hear appeals; the measures he has taken to alleviate this backlog; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22516/13]
View answerAn Bord Pleanála has a statutory objective to determine appeals and referrals within 18 weeks. The compliance rate with the statutory objective time period for normal planning appeals stood at 55% as of April 2013 and the average time taken was 21.8 weeks. To take account of the backlog of cases that had built up in the Board, I appointed 2 additional temporary Board Members for a 12 month period. This is already beginning to impact on the throughput of cases with the number of cases disposed of in April up by 113% over the same month in 2012.
