Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 February 2023
267. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide an update under Housing for All to ending strategic housing developments, returning planning decisions to local authorities and reforming the judicial review process. [7129/23]
View answerThe Programme for Government - Our Shared Future and Housing for All committed to not extending the Strategic Housing Development (SHD) arrangements beyond their legislative expiry date of end December 2021, which was subsequently extended to 25 February 2022 arising from the Covid-related extension of statutory timelines within the planning system by eight weeks in respect of the period March to May 2020 due to the shutdown of the construction sector.
The Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Act 2021 (Act of 2021) was signed into law by the President on 14 December 2021. Furthermore, the Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Act 2021 (Commencement) Order 2021 which brings the provisions of the Act into effect was signed with an effective date of 17 December 2021.
The main purpose of the Act of 2021 is to restore the two-stage planning process, with decision making for Large-scale Residential Development (LRD) type applications returning to the local planning authority in the first instance, with the subsequent right of appeal to An Bord Pleanála (the Board), thereby delivering on the commitments in the Programme for Government as well as Housing for All.
The Act of 2021 also includes a number of transitional arrangements in relation to the expiry of the SHD arrangements and their replacement by the new LRD arrangements. Under the Act:
- SHD prospective applicants/ developers already in receipt of an SHD opinion under the SHD arrangements on the commencement of the Act (17 December 2021) had 16 weeks to submit an SHD application to the Board from that date.
- SHD prospective applicants/ developers who had formally commenced consultations with the Board and were awaiting an SHD opinion on the commencement of the Act (17 December 2021) were given 16 weeks to submit an SHD application to the Board from the date of receipt of the SHD opinion.
With regard to judicial review, the draft Planning and Development Bill 2022 (the Bill), approved by Government on 13 December 2022, proposes to introduce amendments to the judicial review procedures by, among other things, introducing timelines for the various steps in the judicial review process including for pleadings, hearing of cases and delivery of judgements by the Court. The Bill is presently undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage with a view to enactment by the Oireachtas Summer Recess.
