The chairman of An Bord Pleanála has accused rural local authorities of bad planning and improper zoning, leading to flooding, ad-hoc development of towns and villages and water pollution.
The board last year overturned more that 60 per cent of decisions made by Cavan County Council compared with just over 20 per cent in Dublin city.
In some areas, John O'Connor said, planning was more influenced by pressure from developers than by sustainable development.
The number of appeals to An Bord Pleanála is at record levels and is expected to reach 7,000 by the end of the year, an increase of 1,000 on last year.
Mr O'Connor has admitted the planning board cannot fulfil its statutory objective to process cases within 18 weeks. Fewer than half of all cases last year were determined within this time frame.
At the launch of the board's 2006 annual report yesterday, Mr O'Connor welcomed the intervention of Minister for the Environment John Gormley where zoning decisions of local authorities had conflicted with national policy, "particularly one local authority".
Mr Gormley had last July directed Monaghan County Council to rescind land rezoning decisions taken by councillors against the advice of planners.
"The board fairly frequently finds itself dealing with appeals relating to sites where the zoning clearly does not accord with the principles of sustainable development," Mr O'Connor said. "Sometimes zoning decisions seem to have more to do with pressure from local developers rather than sustainable development."
He warned local authorities that the board "would not be constrained by zonings" and would not grant permission where zoning was "fundamentally flawed".
The board had several examples of rezoning of land at risk of flooding, where "excessively large tracts of land" had been zoned around small towns and villages or where development would devalue investment in national roads.
"We are issuing a warning to local authorities that merely because they might be at risk of having to pay out compensation to developers for unjustifiable zoning will not deter the board from doing the right thing."
The board was particularly concerned about proliferation of septic tanks associated with one- off rural housing, which were polluting groundwater.
In almost three-quarters of appeals against one-off rural housing last year, the board overturned the local authority's decision. "Some local authorities are still granting planning permission without having a full set of drainage tests or without a proper assessment of the tests that are submitted."
Developers were also being granted permission for larger schemes which required private sewerage systems where no thought had been given to who would maintain the system in the future he said.
Mr O'Connor called on all local authorities to develop policies in relation to building heights. Tensions between councillors and developers appeared to be inhibiting local authorities from developing these policies, but building high rise on an ad-hoc basis was having a profound effect on the character of towns and cities.
Mr O'Connor said he was "somewhat surprised" that the number of appeals was growing, given the perceived downturn in the construction industry. It was proving "quite difficult to keep abreast of the pace of our work" he said, and he regretted the delays that were occurring.
The board had so far received 64 submissions for developments to be considered under the new fast track Strategic Infrastructure Act, three of which had progressed to planning application stage.
The large volume of cases was also driven by appeals relating to large housing schemes, quarries, wind farms and houses in suburban gardens.
Key facts
• 5,930 appeals received in 2006, set to reach 7,000 in 2007.
• The highest level of appeals to the board in 2006 were from Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown County Council (16.2%), Dublin city (15.2%), Cork city (15%).
• The percentage of cases determined within the statutory aim of 18 weeks is falling, from 78 per cent in 2005 to 53 per cent in 2006 and a projected 49 per cent in 2007.
• Of the 64 applications received for consideration under the fasttrack Strategic Infrastructure Act, six so far have been considered admissible and three have proceeded to planning applications.
THE STATISTICS
Percentage of planning authority decisions overturned by the board.
The five highest:
Cavan County Council 61.6%
Donegal County Council 53.5%
Laois County Council 47.6%
Monaghan County Council 46.2%
Wexford County Council 44%
