Vol. 466 No. 6
75 Mr. Broughan asked the Minister for the Environment whether he will consider using his powers under local government legislation from 1929 to date, to maintain the green belt amenity area at East Mountain, Howth, County Dublin and the green belt bordering Dublin north-east constituency's northern boundary and including the vital approach flight path to Dublin Airport. [11934/96]
The making of a development plan is a reserved function of the local planning authority who have the primary responsibility for deciding land use objectives for their area. These functions are performable by the locally elected councillors and the Minister's power, under the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963, to direct that a development plan should be varied has never been used. While I have pointed out, on a number of occasions, the need for responsible exercise by local authorities of their power to zone lands for particular purposes, I have no proposals, at this stage, to depart from the practice of my predecessors in relation to the use of the powers to direct variations to be made in development plans.
