Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 October 2023
312. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of housing developments and total housing units approved under strategic housing developments by An Bord Pleanála following rejection by Longford County Council previously. [44218/23]
View answerAn Bord Pleanála (the Board) is the national independent statutory body with responsibility for the determination of planning appeals and direct applications for strategic infrastructure and other developments under the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, and certain other Acts.
Arrangements have been put in place by all bodies under the aegis of my Department to facilitate the provision of information directly to members of the Oireachtas. This provides a speedy, efficient and cost effective system to address queries directly to the relevant bodies. The contact email address for An Bord Pleanála in this regard is Oireachtasqueries@pleanala.ie.
In order to be of assistance, my Department requested the information from the Board who have advised that they made a decision on one SHD application within the Longford County Council local authority area in September of this year.
My Department does not hold the information requested on whether this development was previously subject to a separate application to the local authority.
The Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016 and the Planning and Development (Strategic Housing Development) Regulations 2017 provided that planning applications for strategic housing developments (SHD) could be made directly to An Bord Pleanála.
Through the Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Act 2021, Large-scale Residential Development (LRD) arrangements came into effect on 17 December 2021 with the intention of replacing SHD applications with LRD applications.
These arrangements 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 right of appeal to the Board.
