Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 10 March 2022
225. Deputy Cormac Devlin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if an update will be provided on plans to amend planning regulations to allow schools and other institutions to install solar panels; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13803/22]
View answerUnder the Planning and Development Act, 2000, as amended (the Act), all development, unless specifically exempted under the Act or associated Regulations, requires planning permission. Section 4 of the Act and Schedule 2 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001, as amended (the Regulations), set out various exemptions from the requirement to obtain planning permission. Any such exemptions are subject to compliance with any general restrictions on exemptions set out in the Act or the Regulations and to the specific conditions set out in each class of exempted development in Schedule 2 of the Regulations. Included in the planning exemptions set out in the Regulations are those applying to the installation of solar infrastructure on a variety of building types, including houses, businesses, industrial and agricultural to which specific conditions are attached.
My Department, in the context of the Climate Action Plan and in consultation with the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, has undertaken a review of the solar panel planning exemptions set out in the Regulations, with a particular focus on facilitating increased self-generation of electricity. This review is now complete. Substantial changes to the current planning exemption thresholds for solar panels are proposed, as well as the introduction of new classes of solar panel planning exemptions for apartments and educational/community/religious buildings.
In light of the need to appropriately address aviation safety concerns arising from the “glint and glare” impacts of solar panels and the easing of the solar panel planning exemption thresholds, the regulations will cover the vast majority of the land area of the country, with limited restriction zones around airports.
The draft regulations have been reviewed under the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Directive 2001/42/EC and it has been determined that they are likely to have significant effects on the environment, necessitating the undertaking of a full SEA on the draft proposals. It is anticipated that the formal SEA process will commence, with consultation with the statutory environmental authorities to inform the content of the Environmental Report, following the completion of the screening for Appropriate Assessment by my Department’s Ecological Assessment Unit. The SEA Environmental Report will be published alongside the draft regulations for a period of public consultation of not less than 4 weeks. This public consultation is expected to commence shortly. A copy of the draft regulations and the Environmental Report will be made available for inspection over this period. Written submissions or observations will be taken into consideration before the finalisation of the draft regulations.
As required under planning legislation, the proposed exempted development regulations must be laid in draft form before the Houses of the Oireachtas and receive a positive resolution from both Houses before they can be made and the SEA process concluded. Accordingly, the process for finalising the solar panel planning exemptions will be completed in the coming months.
While these regulations are being advanced, my Department is concurrently examining the scope to draft supplementary regulations to further expand the exemptions by way of reducing the proposed restriction zones around airports.
