Darragh O'Brien

Ministers have published the outline of the new Planning and Development Bill 2022, which follows a 15-month review of the planning system led by the Office of the Attorney General.

The main provisions of the bill include strengthened legal status for ministerial guidelines, amendments to the focus and lifespan of local development plans, statutory mandatory timelines for all consent processes, changes to judicial reviews and a re-structuring of An Bord Pleanála (ABP).

Ministerial guidelines and policy directives will be upgraded to ‘national planning policy statements’ and ‘national planning policy guidance’. These will be approved by government. Alignment of other planning documents with these will be mandatory.

Local development plans will be “more strategic in nature” and extended from six years to 10 years, with a review after year five. They will give a strong sense of what is being planned for particular areas before any planning applications emerge.

Statutory timelines — which have yet to be defined — will be introduced on a phased basis for appeals and consents applications made to ABP, including strategic infrastructure developments. Where ABP fails to make decisions with these timelines, it will be subject to fines.

There will also be timelines for various steps in the judicial review process. ABP will be able to correct an error of fact or law in a planning decision and will be able to apply for a stay on the determination of judicial review proceedings while making such corrections.

The government said the bill will also “bring clarity to the role of different parties in accessing justice”. In the case of applications for judicial reviews by certain organisations, these will have to be taken by an individual or individuals.

ABP will be re-named An Coimisiún Pleanála and its decision-making and governance structures separated. The chairperson and board members will be replaced with a chief planning commissioner and up to 14 full-time planning commissioners, while a new governing executive led by a chief executive will be responsible for governance and organisation.

On legal costs, the bill will introduce costs protection for judicial review cases, providing that there will not be any order for costs in any such proceedings unless the court considers that the proceedings are frivolous or vexatious or an abuse of process.

Housing minister Darragh O’Brien said: “This major overhaul of the planning system will provide clarity to those who use the planning system: those seeking to build or engage in other activities, and those who want to have their say.

“It will ensure consistency between European and national law and between different tiers of plan-making. And through provisions such as statutory and mandatory timelines, it will give users of the planning system greater certainty.

“These reforms will ensure we have a modern, efficient planning system, with coherence between policies, plans and decisions. They will ensure key infrastructure like housing and renewable energy systems can be built with certainty for those planning it, and with public participation and environmental protection informing the process.”

Peter Burke, minister of state for planning and local government, said: “More than 30,000 planning applications pass smoothly through the planning system per year, but the landscape in which planning operates has understandably changed over the past two decades.

“We need to build on what we are succeeding in doing well whilst ensuring that the planning system is fit for the modern era.

“The restructuring of An Bord Pleanála into An Coimisiún Pleanála will result in an important separation of decision-making and the corporate/organisational roles and increase public confidence in the capacity of the board to make decisions in a fair manner, underpinned by independence, impartiality and integrity.”

The draft bill will be published in January and progress to pre-legislative scrutiny and enactment in early 2023.