Vol. 399 No. 3
130 Mr. Garland asked the Minister for the Environment if he will amend the Local Government (Planning and Development) Acts, 1963-84 so that local authority/State developments will no longer be exempted from planning control sections 4 and 84 of the Planning Act, 1963.
132 Mr. Garland asked the Minister for the Environment if he will bring the Office of Public Works into the planning process; and, if not, the reason.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 130 and 132 together.
State and local authority development likely to have significant effects on the environment now require environmental impact assessment by virtue of the regulations which I made to implement EC Directive 85/337/EEC on environmental impact assessment, viz. the European Communities (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations, 1989 (S.I. No. 349 of 1989) and the Local Government (Planning and Development) Regulations, 1990 (S.I. No. 25 of 1990).
As regards other development by State authorities — that is, Ministers of the Government and the Commissioners of Public Works — these are subject to consultation with the planning authority. Other development by planning authorities within their functional areas may not contravene the relevant development plan.
I have no proposal for any further change in this position, but I will keep the matter under review in the light of experience of the EIA provisions.
131 Mr. Garland asked the Minister for the Environment if he will amend the Local Government (Planning and Development) Acts, 1963-84 so that agricultural activities, including turf cutting, forestry plantations and development under the Land Reclamation Act, 1949, will no longer be exempt from planning control if they are proposed in areas which are included in the An Foras Forbartha report entitled Inventory of Outstanding Landscapes in Ireland 1977; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Prior to 1 February 1990 the use of land for agriculture, including forestry and turbary, and the carrying out of any of the works mentioned in the Land Reclamation Act, 1949, were exempted development for the purposes of the Local Government (Planning and Development) Acts.
That position has now been altered, however, by the regulations which are made to implement EC Directive 85/337/EEC on Environmental Impact Assessment, viz. the European Communities (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations, 1989 (S.I. No. 349 of 1989) and the Local Government (Planning and Development) Regulations, 1990 (S.I. No. 25 of 1990). Planning permission must now be obtained for certain agricultural development, including afforestation, peat extraction and land reclamation works, which would be likely, by reference to prescribed thresholds and criteria, to have significant effects on the environment.
I have no proposal at present for any further changes in the application of planning control to such development.
