Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 October 2014
570. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will consider establishing a fund to protect special amenity areas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40082/14]
Amharc ar fhreagraSection 202 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, provides that a planning authority can decide to make an order declaring a specified area to be an area of special amenity for reasons of its outstanding beauty or special recreational value, having regard to any benefits for nature conservation as well as for the purposes of preventing or limiting development in the area. The making of a special amenity area order is a reserved function of the elected members of a local authority. However, under section 202(3) of the Act, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government may, if he or she considers it necessary, direct a planning authority to make an order declaring a specified area to be an area of special amenity for reasons of its outstanding beauty or special recreational value and having regard to any benefits for nature conservation. Any such order must be adopted by resolution, i.e. it is a reserved function of the Council, and must be confirmed by An Bord Pleanála.
The designation of a specified area as an area of special amenity provides a level of protection from development for the area in question. This is achieved through section 34(2) of the Act which provides that when making its decision in relation to a planning application, planning authorities are restricted to considering the proper planning and sustainable development of the area having regard to, among other things, the provisions of any special area amenity order relating to the area. In addition, while article 6 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001, as amended, provides that development specified in Schedule 2 of the regulations shall be exempted development for the purposes of the Act, article 9 of the Regulations provides that development to which article 6 relates shall not be exempted development for the purposes of the Act if the carrying out of such development would, among other things, interfere with the character of a landscape, or a view or prospect of special amenity value or special interest, the preservation of which is an objective of a development plan for the area in which the development is proposed or, pending the variation of a development plan or the making of a new development plan, in the draft variation of the development plan or the draft development plan.
I am satisfied with the existing provisions relating to the protection of special amenity areas, and I have no plans to establish a fund for this purpose.
