Ivana Bacik
Question:548. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when an exemption to planning permission requirements for the fitting of rooftop solar panels will be implemented. [42551/22]
View answerThursday, 8 September 2022
Questions (548)
Written answers
Under 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, including those relating to the installation of solar panels on the roofs of houses, as well as the introduction of new classes of solar panel planning exemptions for apartments and educational/community/sports buildings.
The draft regulations have been reviewed under the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Directive 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. The draft regulations have also been screened for Appropriate Assessment (AA) under the Habitats Directive by my Department’s Ecological Assessment Unit (EAU) and the need for AA has been screened out.
A public consultation on the draft solar regulations as part of the SEA process ran from 15 June 2022 to 13 July 2022. My Department is currently reviewing written submissions and observations received as part of the public consultation, which 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. It is intended that the process for finalising the solar panel planning exemptions will be completed in the coming weeks.