W2D-009 Planning regulations-0.txt
LOCAL GOVERNMENT (PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT) REGULATIONS 1994 (S. I. NO. 86 OF 1994)

Your attention is directed to the above Regulations made by the Minister for the Environment. These regulations will replace all existing regulations under the Local Government (Planning and Development) Acts 1963 to 1993 and will come into effect on 16th May 1994 (apart from parts X and XIII which relate to certain development by Local Authorities and State Authorities).

The attached Schedule sets out the main changes and new provisions.

Copies of the regulations may be purchased from the Government Publications Sales Office, Sun Alliance House, Molesworth Street, Dublin 2.
Local Government (Planning and Development) Regulations, 1994
Main changes and new provisions

Planning applications

Applicants for planning permission will, in the case of applications made on or after 16th May, 1994, have to publish notice in a newspaper and erect a site notice. Up to now, applicants have generally had a choice between the two forms of notice.

Any submissions or observations made to a planning authority about a planning application received on or after 16th May, 1994 will have to be available for public inspection along with the application itself. At the moment, only some planning authorities make submissions or observations available for inspection.

A planning authority will have power to declare a planning application invalid, and to return the fee and documents to the applicant, where it considers that the application is seriously deficient by reference to the requirements of the Regulations.

The right to make submissions or observations to a planning authority about a planning application will not, where the development relates to an activity requiring a licence from the Environmental Protection Agency, extend to matters concerning the risk of environmental pollution from the activity. Such matters will be within the remit of the Agency.

Publication of weekly lists by planning authorities and An Bord Plean&/ala

The current requirement on planning authorities to produce a weekly list of planning applications received will be extended to cover applications decided during the week.

There will be a new requirement for An Bord Plean&/ala to produce a weekly list of appeals received and decided.

Planning authorities and An Bord Plean&/ala will have to make lists available by not later than the third working day after the week to which they relate.

The planning authority's list must be displayed at the authority's office, and in public libraries in the authority's area, for two months, and can also be displayed at any other locations the authority considers appropriate, or published in a newspaper.

An Bord Plean&/ala's list has to be displayed at the Board's offices for a month.

Copies of the lists must be made available during the display period, free or for a reasonable fee.

New categories of exempted development

Planning permission will not be needed for the use of a house as a residence for up to 6 people with a mental or physical disability and up to 2 resident carers.

Erection of one satellite dish on, or within the curtilage of, a dwellinghouse won't need planning permission, provided that: the diameter of the dish does not exceed 1 metre, the dish is not placed on, or in front of, the front wall of the house, or on the front roof slope or higher than the highest part of the roof.

Clarification of the position of "Bed and Breakfast" accommodation - use of up to 4 bedrooms for that purpose won't need planning permission unless the planning permission which authorised the premises in question prohibits or restricts such use.

Maintenance, improvement, reconstruction or restoration of inland waterways by statutory undertakers will be exempted development.

Certain minor works by Government Departments and OPW, such as erecting temporary structures for visits of foreign dignitaries, won't need planning permission.

Provision of stables with an area of less than 100 square metres and of greyhound kennels with an area less than 50 square metres will, subject to certain conditions and limitations, be exempted development.

New restrictions on exemption

The laying out and use of land as a gold course or a pitch and putt course will not be exempted development.

The erection of a satellite dish on a building listed for preservation in the Development Plan will not be exempted development. The display of advertisements, except "For Sale/To Let" signs or small "brass plate" type signs or statutory notices, on such buildings will require planning permission.

The exemption for demolition will not apply to a building which forms part of a terrace of buildings, or which abuts on another building in separate ownership. [Demolition of listed buildings already requires planning permission.]

There will be an overall limit of 5 square metres on the area of advertisements which may be displayed on the front of a building on a business premises.

There will be an overall limit of 25 square metres on the area of garages, stores, sheds, etc. which can be built as exempted development within the curtilage of a dwellinghouse, and exemption won't apply if the amount of open space to the side or rear of the house would be reduced to less than 25 square metres.

The exemption for constructing an extension to the rear of a dwellinghouse will not apply if the amount of open space at the rear of the house would be reduced to less than 25 square metres. Any previous extensions will have to be taken into account in applying the limit of 23 square metres on the floor area of exempted extensions to the rear of a house.

Only one "For Sale/To Let" sign will be allowed on a property.

There will be a height limit of 40 metres on navigational equipment constructed or erected as exempted development.

Use of land as a burial ground will no longer be exempted development.

Fees for planning applications

There will be a new exemption from application fees for voluntary housing groups.

Planning applications for the retention of structures constructed without planning permission or the continuance of a use instituted without permission will be subject to one and a half times the normal fee.
New procedure of public notice and comment for certain local authority development
This procedure will apply to categories of development specified in the Regulations, including construction of houses and other dwellings, certain road works, bridges and tunnels, waste water treatment works, water intake and treatment works, dams and reservoirs, swimming pools, landfill sites, and other waste disposal installations and facilities, burial grounds, fire stations, libraries, and most other development costing more than £ 50,000.

It will not apply, however, to maintenance or repair works, development needed in response to an emergency, or development which is already subject to requirements as to public notice and participation (such as Environmental Impact Assessment procedures).

The procedure will involve: publication of newspaper notice of the proposed development by the local authority, and giving of notice of the proposal to specified bodies, availability for public inspection of plans and particulars of the proposed development, an opportunity for interested persons and bodies to make submissions to the planning authority about the proposal, preparation of a report on the proposed development, by the local authority addressing (inter alia) issues raised by those who made submissions, submission of the report to the elected members of the local authority, and giving of notice as to whether the proposed development will go ahead.

As a transitional arrangement, the new procedure will not apply where notice of the proposal has been given to the elected members in accordance with the City and County Management (Amendment) Act, 1955 before 15 June next, and where the works are being carried out by the local authority itself, they are commenced before 31 December next, or if the works are being carried out by contract, the contract is signed before 31 December next.
Provisions applicable to certain development by Government Departments and Office of Public Works
As and from 15 June, when a transitional period of one year established by the 1993 Planning Act comes to an end, most development by Government Departments and the Office of Public Works will be subject to normal planning permission requirements. However, certain categories of development by these bodies will be excluded from those requirements, because their sensitivity in security terms would not permit them to be subjected to the detailed requirements of public availability of plans and particulars involved in the planning process. These excluded categories include: Garda stations and army barracks, and other premises and installations used by the Garda&/i and the Defence Forces, prisons, courthouses buildings and other premises used in connection with the functions of the President, D&/ail &/Eireann, Seanad &/Eireann, the Department of the Taoiseach, the Office of the T&/anaiste, the Departments of Defence, Foreign Affairs, and Justice and the Offices of the Attorney General, the Chief State Solicitor and the Director of Public Prosecutions, security works at other State buildings or premises, or at the residences of public officials and office holders.

Much of the development mentioned above will be subject to alternative requirements of public notice and consultation, which will involve: the giving by the State authority concerned of public notice of the proposed development, giving of notice of the proposed development to the relevant planning authority, public availability of outline plans and particulars, and an opportunity to make submissions to the State authority, an express legal duty for the State authority to have regard to submissions received, and giving of notice of the decision of the State authority in relation to the proposed development.

Arterial drainage works by the Office of Public Works will not be subject to planning permission requirements, because they are already subject to a statutory authorisation procedure involving public notice and participation.
Section 89 licences
A licence under section 89 of the 1963 Planning Act will be required to place chairs and tables on the public footpath outside a hotel, restaurant or public house. The fee for this licence will be £ 40 a year.
