OPINION: The new Planning Act - Help or hindrance to Offaly?
Plan could see development of Tullamore Harbour fast-tracked
THREE times larger than its predecessor, the new The Planning and Development Act 2024 is in the process of a phased introduction.
Having worked as a town planner under five previous Acts, I have never witnessed the degree of controversy that this new Act has generated.
There is almost total divergence amongst politicians, economists, planners, developers, renters, environmentalists, lawyers and residents associations as to whether it is well or poorly conceived- whether it will gloriously succeed or spectacularly fail.
The only point of agreement is that the present system isn't working and in particular is acting as an impediment to the rapid and adequate supply of housing.
What will it do?
The Act introduces many new initiatives which seek to address the problems presently besetting the system without causing new ones. Its principal features are:
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Reducing timeframes for planning decisions and simplifying application procedures in order to accelerate development.
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Enhancing Local Authority powers to encourage the development of vacant sites and address housing needs.
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Strengthening requirements for environmental assessment and for implementing climate change actions.
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Making changes as to how planning decisions can be challenged, coupled with procedural timelines.
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Moving towards fully digitalised planning services and documentation.
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Changing the Development Plan cycle from six to ten years to coincide with census periods, but with reviews every five years.
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Making the requesting of payment in return for not delaying or opposing a development a criminal offence.
Residents Associations
Developers will of course scan the Act with interest but so should bodies with a concern for the environment or for the protection of local amenities.
While the procedures for personal interventions in the planning process remain largely unaltered, new provisions will apply to local bodies who wish to oppose -or support- proposals.
The new Act gives the opportunity for residents associations to be dynamic rather than reactionary in relation to the future of their neighbourhood. Involvement in the planmaking process can help to set the parameters and identify the issues which should be addressed by developers. What amenities are to be protected and enhanced? Where might increased height be acceptable? Where should existing character be maintained and where can schemes be more adventurous? These considerations can then be incorporated into future Urban Area Plans.
If associations are still unhappy about proposals within their area they can appeal to An Coimisiún Pleanála (as An Bord Pleanála will be renamed). If they feel that An Coimisiún has erred in law they can seek a review in the High Court, but only if they meet specific requirements including:.
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Having a constitution,
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Taking a vote of their members on whether to go ahead with a Judicial Review,
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Two-thirds of those voting agreed to proceeding with the Judicial Review and that their names and addresses be filed with the application.
Also it will be difficult for an association to subsequently argue that a proposal will have a detrimental impact on specific environmental issues such as the nocturnal flight patterns of bats or the habitats of rare species if interest in these concerns emerges only after ( or because) a planning application has been made.
How will it affect Tullamore?
One particular provision will pose a procedural problem for Offaly County Council. The 2021 Development Plan committed to providing Local Area Plans for the principal towns of the County. Those for Birr, Edenderry and Portarlington are in the process of delivery but there is no word yet of a Tullamore plan.
The new Act has dropped the LAP process and substituted it with a more sophisticated Urban Area Plan. As the 2021 County Plan enters its two year review stage, should the Council now forget about the long delayed LAP for Tullamore and begin to prepare a UAP?
Renewed emphasis is placed on the introduction of Architectural Conservation Areas as a proven mechanism for protecting key urban areas of distinctive character. But the Council has restricted the use of ACAs in Offaly to one minor village and overlooked the architectural value of the historic centres of its principal towns. It would be astonishing were this lacuna to continue for a further twelve years.
The Priority Plan process, which is part of the new Act, would appear to be tailor made for the successful advancement of the redevelopment of the Grand Canal Harbour.
Will it work?
An improved planning system will not solve the housing crisis on its own. Taxation, capital investment and access to powers of compulsory purchase are also critical. An increase in the numbers of skilled professionals to guide it to success will be essential. On foot of the introduction in 2001 of a combination of specific interventions in these areas 85,419 dwellings were built in 2006. Last year we built only 30,330 dwellings.
The success or failure of this new Act will take some time to reveal itself. Hopefully it will bring clarity, certainty and confidence to the process and gradually this will result in better designed applications and consequently fewer objections. Inevitably there will be a few high profile planning and legal cases which will test its sturdiness and clarify grey areas.
Hopefully, within three years at least, substantial increases in housing supply will at last begin to emerge.
Fergal MacCabe is an architect and town planner and was associated with Dr Peter Bacon on the report to the Department of the Environment and Local Government ‘ The Housing Market in Ireland-An Economic Evaluation of Trends and Prospects June 2000’