Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 14 July 2021
151. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when he plans to end the strategic housing development planning system; if he will replace it with a new system for large scale developments or revert to the standard local authority planning process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38689/21]
View answer152. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if the strategic housing development proposals at the pre-application consultation stage upon termination of the strategic housing development planning system will be permitted to advance to the application stage if the Board considers it to be a reasonable basis for application; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38690/21]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 151 and 152 together.
Minister O'Brien brought a Memorandum to Government yesterday (13 July 2021), accompanied by a General Scheme of a Planning and Development (Amendment) (LSRD) Bill 2021 (the General Scheme), outlining proposals for the replacement of the current planning arrangements in respect of Strategic Housing Developments (SHDs) with new streamlined arrangements for large-scale residential developments (LSRDs). The proposed new arrangements will effectively restore decision-making on such large scale developments to local authorities in the first instance.
The proposed new LSRD arrangements will comprise 3 pillars: pre-application consultation stage, planning application stage and appeal stage, summarised as follows
- planning authorities will be required to complete the “final consultation meeting” element of the pre-application consultation stage, involving a bilateral meeting between the planning authority and the developer, within 8 weeks of the receipt of a request for such meeting;
- subsequent LSRD planning applications will be generally required to be determined by planning authorities within 8 weeks of receipt of an application;
- the determination of appeals against planning decisions by planning authorities will be generally required to be determined by An Bord Pleanala within 16 weeks of receipt of an appeal.
The application of these new arrangements is intended to streamline the decision making process for LSRDs, thereby providing greater certainty and clarity to developers regarding the timelines for decisions in respect of such development proposals.
The General Scheme also proposes a number of transitional arrangements in relation to the expiry of the SHD arrangements and their replacement by the new LSRD arrangements, most of which are contingent on the early enactment of the Bill. Under the proposals:
- a planning application for a SHD must be submitted to An Bord Pleanála (the Board) by 31 December 2021 at the latest, for proposals which have completed the SHD pre-application consultation process with the Board on or before 29 October 2021;
- 29 October 2021 will be the last day for requesting a SHD pre-application consultation request with the Board, with 25 February 2022 being the last date for submitting a subsequent SHD planning application to the Board in respect of those SHD proposals which complete the SHD pre-application consultation process after 29 October 2021.
Further details in relation to the proposals are set out in the General Scheme which is available on at: www.gov.ie/en/publication/a10f2-general-scheme-of-planning-and-development-amendment-lsrd-bill-2021/.
It is intended that the Bill will be enacted as soon as possible in the autumn with the new LSRD arrangements commencing on enactment of the Bill. The LSRD and SHD schemes will both operate concurrently for a limited period of time with developers being able to choose which process to engage with during this interim period. Once the final SHD planning applications have worked their way through the system, the LSRD arrangements will be the sole planning consent system for applications of this scale.
