Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 November 2015
535. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government when the review of An Bord Pleanála will be published; his views on the length of time it takes An Bord Pleanála to reach decisions; and his plans to address this. [41333/15]
View answer557. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the status of appeals to An Bord Pleanála; if statistics for the past few years will be given in relation to appeals made, and the time span for decisions; if the standard 16-week target is being met; if cases are more or less decided on time; if the outcomes are better or worse than existed in boom times; why the number of late cases has not significantly reduced since the end of the boom; if a greater overall percentage of planning applications are now appealed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41687/15]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 535 and 557 together.
In July 2015, I announced details of an organisational review of An Bord Pleanála (the Board) to be undertaken by an external independent review group who, having regard to its terms of reference, have been mandated to prepare a report to me and make recommendations to support the Board in its operations, with a view to ensuring that it is appropriately positioned and fit for purpose from an organisational perspective to achieve its legislative mandate.
Details of the members of the review group along with its terms of reference can be found on my Department’s website at http://www.environ.ie/en/AnBordPleanálaReview/.
The review group is currently engaged in a series of meetings with relevant stakeholders and has recently carried out a public consultation. I expect to receive the report of the review group in January 2016.
Under Section 126 of the Planning and Development Acts 2000-2014, the Board has a statutory objective to determine appeals within 18 weeks of their receipt. Where the Board does not consider it possible or appropriate to reach a decision within 18 weeks (e.g. because of the particular circumstances of the appeal or the volume of appeals on hand), it is required to inform the relevant parties of the reasons for this, and to indicate when it intends to make its decision.
The Board’s compliance rate with the statutory objective period for the current year (at end October) stands at 82%.
Details in relation to the compliance rate with the statutory objective period, the average length of time taken by the Board to determine appeals, the volume of appeals received and the volume disposed of for each of years 2010 – 2015 (at end October) are set out in the table below:
|
Year |
Average Length of Time to Process Appeal (weeks)
|
Compliance with Statutory Objective Period
|
No. cases Received |
No. cases Disposed |
|
2015 (end Oct) |
15.3 |
82% |
1,665 |
1,597 |
|
2014 |
16 |
83% |
1,456 |
1,384 |
|
2013 |
19 |
72% |
1,396 |
1,572 |
|
2012* |
23 |
36% |
2,227 |
1,794 |
|
2011 |
17 |
83% |
2,110 |
2,326 |
|
2010 |
19 |
63% |
2,850 |
3,248 |
* Note: The 2012 figures arose primarily due to the reduced number of Board Members (down to 4 of a maximum of 10) for much of 2012 due to a time interval between the expiration of terms of outgoing Board Members and the appointment of new members.
