New legislation will give the Minister for the Environment power to appoint a commissioner to take over the functions of a local authority in cases of "impropriety, serious inefficiency or non-compliance with statutory requirements".
This power would apply in situations where the Minister has "reason to believe" that either the local authority's manager or its elected representatives have behaved improperly and could be used, for example, in dealing with land rezoning abuses.
The measure is included in a Bill, with 245 sections, published today by the Minister, Mr Dempsey, which will extensively reform and consolidate Irish planning law, introducing far-reaching changes in the way the system operates.
One of the most important changes involves a redefinition of the respective roles of An Bord Pleanala and the Environmental Protection Agency in assessing industrial and other development projects which require an integrated pollution licence.
At present the division of responsibility between the two agencies prohibits An Bord Pleanala from considering anything other than the planning issues associated with such developments, leaving the wider environmental issues to be dealt with by the EPA.
Under the Bill, a more "holistic" approach is introduced, whereby An Bord Pleanala will not only be able to consider the environmental aspects of an application, but also to refuse planning permission if it considers that a project would damage the environment.
However, the board will not be entitled to impose conditions on the operation of such a development; this will remain a matter solely for the EPA. The Minister said the present strict division of functions had given rise to some unsatisfactory situations.
According to the Minister, the 1999 Local Government (Planning and Development) Bill "will give us the means to better plan and control our physical environment in a way that meets the requirements of continued economic and demographic growth".
On the eve of a new millennium, he said, the new legislation would "build on the strengths of the existing system and usher in a planning regime that will promote sustainable development, be strategic in its outlook and be effective and efficient in its operation".
The Bill, which has been produced following a two-year review of the planning code, revises and consolidates in one Act all nine Planning Acts since 1963 and introduces a "sustainable development philosophy" to the planning system.
Such a major review had been proposed by Mr Dempsey while in Opposition, and also fulfils a specific commitment subsequently included in the Fianna Fail-Progressive Democrats programme for government following the 1997 general election.
The Bill provides for a more open and publicly accessible procedure for drawing up local authority development plans by giving communities a "real opportunity" to participate at the formative stage, thereby reducing controversy over specific planning applications. However, the new streamlined procedure to vary development plans will reduce the public display period from the present three months, followed by one month for amendments, to a single period of six weeks. This would facilitate the provision of public infrastructure.
Development plans will have a maximum term of six years, so that none of them will be "out of date". The Minister will also have the explicit power to direct a local authority to amend its development plan where it fails to comply with planning policies.
The Bill makes it clear that the zoning of land for development will only last for the period of the plan - six years - so the current provision of compensation for a refusal of permission due to "down-zoning" is to be dropped after a three-year transitional period.
It also underlines the need for a "broader, more strategic context" for city and county development plans. Thus, statutory recognition is being given to last April's Strategic Planning Guidelines for the Greater Dublin Area (including Meath, Kildare and Wicklow).
Similar status will be given to regional planning guidelines for other parts of the State, conferring a significant new power on the regional authorities. In addition, a "national spatial strategy" is being prepared in the context of the National Development Plan.
Since regional planning guidelines and development plans will have to conform with this national strategy, Mr Dempsey said, for the first time there would be "a structured hierarchy of plans from the broad national picture down to local level".
Local area plans are also given statutory recognition for the first time. This is intended to "fill a void" by permitting more detailed planning and further consultation locally on the form of development in areas already zoned for large-scale housing schemes, for example.
ONE of the onerous duties imposed by the Bill on county councils is to prepare local area plans for all towns with a population of over 1,500, in line with the strategic objectives of a county plan. Full development plans for "scheduled towns" will no longer be required.
Statutory recognition is also given for the first time to ministerial planning policy guidelines, for example, on windfarms, telecommunication masts and housing density, and all planning authorities, including An Bord Pleanala, will have to have regard to them.
The Bill also aims to put the concept of sustainable development at the heart of the planning system, by redefining the current standard governing "proper planning and development" as the "proper planning and `sustainable' development" of any area.
It includes measures to ensure more sustainable development patterns, such as the mandatory inclusion of environmental protection objectives in development plans as well as environmental assessment of those plans and any regional planning guidelines.
The Bill provides for the designation of "landscape conservation areas", new provisions regarding tree preservation orders, protection of public rights of way and an end to the blanket exemptions from planning control of both afforestation and peat extraction.
Landscape conservation area designations are intended to protect the countryside. They will allow local authorities to control developments affecting the natural environment such as afforestation, the removal of hedges and ditches and land reclamation. Recently enacted legislation on the protection of Ireland's architectural heritage has been fully consolidated in the new Bill, thus making conservation of the built heritage a central concern of development planning and control, according to Mr Dempsey.
In order to speed up the provision of public infrastructure, new procedures are being introduced for the confirmation of compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) made by local authorities for water and sewage treatment plants and road schemes, including motorways. The functions of the Minister for the Environment in relation to such CPOs, as well as the certification of environmental impact statements on major local authority projects, are being transferred to An Bord Pleanala and will now be subject to strict time limits.
The appeals board will have a maximum of 18 weeks to decide whether to confirm or reject a CPO as well as discretion on whether to hold an oral hearing. It is expected that the board will have to set up a separate division to deal with this new area of activity.
Other provisions allow for the confirmation by local authorities of their own CPOs in cases where there are no objections. According to the Minister, the streamlined procedure for varying development plans will also facilitate the provision of public infrastructure.
The present system of levying development contributions is being completely reformed. Local authorities will now be required to devise schemes which will be "fully transparent", to give developers certainty regarding the likely levies they would have to pay.
The adoption of a contributions scheme will be a matter for the elected members of a local authority. There will also be a wider definition of what they would cover, including recreational and community facilities or the provision of a purpose-built motorway interchange.
Provisions on the disclosure of interests by members and planning staff of local authorities, and by An Bord Pleanala, are reenacted. New provisions will require them to expand this exercise of probity by drawing up codes of conduct to prevent conflicts of interest.
