Poor quality design is hindering the objective of achieving higher housing densities in major urban centres, according to the chairman of An Bord Pleanala, Mr John O'Connor.
Speaking at a press briefing yesterday on the board's annual report for 1999, he said several high-density housing schemes had to be rejected by the appeals board because their overall design would not have produced a quality residential environment.
Mr O'Connor, formerly assistant secretary in charge of the Department of the Environment's planning division, criticised some of the schemes as "suburban rather than urban" in character, with a tendency to "cram in as many housing units as possible".
He urged developers and their architects to pay more attention to providing amenities and other facilities for future residents in a less "car-dominated" layout and to designing schemes which related better to their environmental context.
The media and, in particular, newspaper property supplements could also be "doing more to educate people about the benefits of building at higher densities", to overcome what some builders had identified as "market resistance" to the concept.
However, Mr O'Connor stressed the board was processing planning appeals on housing schemes of 30 or more units on a "fast-track" basis "in recognition of the need to increase the supply of housing as rapidly as possible" to meet demand.
But while most housing appeals were determined within the statutory four months, he conceded that only 47 per cent of appeals met this deadline - mainly because the overall number had increased by a quarter to 5,300 this year.
He also noted that the number of third-party appeals against decisions made by local authorities had risen to an unprecedented 44 per cent of the total. Their success rate had increased to 43 per cent. Mr O'Connor said he believed An Bord Pleanala now enjoyed a high level of public confidence in its impartiality. This was something which it was determined to defend by continuing to uphold the quality of its decisions.
The board, which will assume responsibility in January for a wide range of additional functions, including road and motorway schemes, has been having considerable difficulty recruiting and retaining qualified personnel to serve as planning inspectors.
The chairman said it proposed to commission private-sector planning consultants on a freelance basis to help speed up the processing of appeals. A team of management consultants is being drafted in to review the board's organisational procedures.
Mr Ciaran Ryan, of the Construction Industry Federation, paid tribute to the board for its speed in determining housing appeals despite the pressures it faced. The fact the Irish appeals system was more open than most was "in everybody's interest". Early next year, An Bord Pleanala will move to new offices on the corner of Cathal Brugha Street and Marlborough Street to accommodate a projected 50 per cent increase in staff so that it can discharge its duties under the new Planning Act.
