Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 July 2018
2718. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the grounds or circumstances in which a county council can use its powers to freeze land zoned for development to ensure that no development takes place for a period of time; the parameters of this freezing; if this is an executive or reserved function of the county council; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34082/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraThere are no general powers of the type referred to in the question.
However, each local authority development plan prepared under the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended) sets the policy context for the development of land, including the assessment of individual planning applications. Collectively, the processes concerning the preparation of development plans and the determination of individual planning applications can be used to determine the sequencing and timing of the development of land.
For example, in accordance with the Act above, planning authorities have the power, when indicating objectives for the zoning of land for particular purposes in their development plans, to indicate the sequence or phasing of the development of such lands; these powers are reserved to the elected members. In addition, the Act also provides that there shall be no presumption in law that any land zoned in a particular development plan (including a development plan that has been varied) shall remain so zoned in any subsequent development plan.
Furthermore, local authorities have the power to grant permission for the development of land subject to or without conditions, which Section 34(4)(h) of the Act states can include “conditions for determining the sequence and timing in which and the time at which works shall be carried out”. Such powers are an executive function.
Once planning permission has been granted for a development, the permission is generally valid for a period of 5 years within which the development can be carried out.
