Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 March 2012
368 Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his policy with regard to unauthorised caravan, camper van and camping sites; if he will detail any communications or directives he has issued in this regard; if he will outline any proposals he has to deal with the issue; if he will respond to correspondence (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13841/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraUnder the Planning and Development Acts 2000-2011, all development, unless specifically exempted under the Acts or associated Regulations, requires planning permission. Any development that is carried out without planning permission or that does not comply with the terms of a planning permission, is unauthorised development, and may be subject to enforcement action by a planning authority.
Planning authorities have substantial enforcement powers under the Planning and Development Act 2000. A planning authority may issue an enforcement notice, non-compliance with which is an offence, in connection with unauthorised development (which includes failure to comply with planning conditions) requiring such steps as the authority considers necessary to be taken within a specified period. If an enforcement notice is not complied with the planning authority may itself take the specified steps and recover the expense incurred in doing so. A planning authority may also seek a court order requiring any particular action to be taken or not to be taken. The Planning Acts also place clear statutory obligations on planning authorities in relation to unauthorised development. A planning authority must issue a warning letter in relation to written complaints regarding unauthorised development or other unauthorised development it becomes aware of (except in the case of trivial or minor development). The planning authority must then carry out an investigation and where it establishes, following such an investigation, that unauthorised development (other than development that is of a trivial or minor nature) has been or is being carried out, and the person who has carried out or is carrying out the development has not proceeded to remedy the position, the planning authority must issue an enforcement notice or make an application for a court order unless there are compelling reasons for not doing so.
Enforcement of planning control is a matter for the planning authority, which can take action where a development requiring planning permission has not obtained this permission or where permission has not been complied with. Under section 30 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, I am specifically precluded from exercising any power or control in relation to any particular case with which a planning authority or An Bord Pleanála is or may be concerned, including cases of planning enforcement. In August 2008, the Department issued a Memorandum to local authorities entitled Memorandum on the Preparation, Adoption and Implementation of Local Authority Traveller Accommodation Programmes 2009-2013. This required local authorities, pending the provision of suitable permanent accommodation, to review the position of Travellers on the roadside or other unauthorised sites in their functional area in the light of the Guidelines on Basic Services and Facilities for Caravans issued by the Minister, and to seek to improve the position of these families by considering making available such services, including water, toilets and waste removal if there are no significant legal, planning, environmental, social, technical or other restraints in so doing.
