LOCAL COUNCILLORS rezoning land indiscriminately have become semi-detached from the real world and, in particular, the current economic downturn, climate change and the need to make proper use of public investment in roads, railways and other infrastructure. That's the verdict, expressed yesterday, of An Bord Pleanála chairman John O'Connor at a press conference to mark the publication of its annual report for 2007. Given that he and other members of the appeals board have a good overview of planning throughout the State, his conclusion that councillors - and even planners, in some cases - are ignoring economic and environmental imperatives in the decisions they make must be taken seriously.
Too often, as Mr O'Connor said, councillors have responded to the "special pleadings of landowners and other vested interests" in deciding to rezone particular parcels of property, often remote from the urban centres, resulting in "unnecessary sprawl" into good agricultural land. And he made it clear, not for the first time, that the appeals board would continue to refuse permission if these zonings were in conflict with national policies or regional planning guidelines - even though this would expose the local authorities involved to claims for compensation from developers. In such situations, it would be salutary if the councillors who voted to rezone the land against planning advice faced the prospect of some sanction.
It is not always irresponsible councillors who are to blame, however. Local authority officials are often so mesmerised by the revenue to be raised from development levies - and, in the longer term, commercial rates - that they are prepared to overlook the negative environmental consequences of profit-driven schemes on remotely-located greenfield sites. We witnessed far too much of this type of development-at-any-price during the boom years. Now that the economy is in recession, planners have an opportunity to reflect on what has been done and to try to make more sensible decisions.
Although the quality of most decisions made by An Bord Pleanála is not in question, its expeditiousness in processing appeals is still falling behind statutory objectives. Last year's record intake of 6,700 cases left a "significant backlog", with only a quarter of appeals determined within the 18-week period specified by the 2000 Planning Act. At the end of last month, the board still had nearly 2,800 cases on hand. But with the downturn in construction activity responsible for a 16 per cent reduction in the number of appeals, it is clear that the recession will help to clear the backlog.
The most eagerly-awaited decision, of course, concerns the fate of the Jurys/Berkeley Court hotel sites in the leafy Dublin suburb of Ballsbridge and whether developer Seán Dunne - or, indeed, fellow developer Ray Grehan on the adjoining veterinary college site - will get planning permission to erect a high-rise cluster there. What the appeals board decides in these two cases will tell us all we need to know about its own vision of "sustainable development".