Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 November 2023
323. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if there are any proposals to amend the Planning and Development Act 2000 to waive the requirement for a Part 8 of the Act consultation for emergency active travel measures introduced during the Covid emergency. [51095/23]
View answerUnder Part 8 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001, as amended (the Regulations), article 80 specifies the types of development that are required to undergo the local authority “own development” planning approval process specified under section 179 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended (the Act), which requires public consultation on the proposed development and the subsequent approval of, or modification by, the elected members of the local authority before it can proceed.
Article 80(1)(b) specifies the following form of development as coming within the ambit of the approval process provided for in section 179 of the Act:
“the construction of a new road or the widening or realignment of an existing road, where the length of the new road or of the widened or realigned portion of the existing road, as the case may be, would be—
(i) in the case of a road in an urban area, 100 metres or more, or
(ii) in the case of a road in any other area, 1 kilometre or more.”.
The matter raised concerning consultation on emergency active travel measures during the Covid emergency, such as the demarcation of cycle lanes, is not a matter for planning and falls under the remit of my colleague the Minister for Transport. The Roads Traffics Acts and associated Regulations are matters in which I, in my role as Minister with responsibility for planning, have no statutory function.
It should be noted that under article 80(1)(k) of the Regulations, the process under section 179 of the Act is required to be followed for any local authority development where the estimated cost exceeds €126,000, excluding development consisting of the laying of underground of sewers, mains, pipes or other apparatus. As indicated, the planning approval process under section 179 of the Act is a reserved function of the elected members.
Under section 30 of the Act, I am specifically precluded from exercising any power or control in relation to any particular case in which a planning authority or the Board is or may be concerned, except in very specific circumstances, which do not apply in this case. This includes any enforcement issue.
