'Bord clears 90% of applications in 18 weeks'

Urban PlanningAn Bord Pleanála is not to blame for the delays developing housing in Strategic Development Zones (SDZs) it tells Dick Ahlstrom. And it says it is waiting for Fingal council to come back to it with a modified plan for a site at Hansfield in Blanchardstown

An Bord Pleanála has defended its record in clearing planning applications, in particular for the new Strategic Development Zones designated in Dublin and Navan. The Bord's minimum goal is to clear 90 per cent of all applications within its 18-week target, according to the Bord's secretary.

Mr Diarmuid Collins strongly dismissed suggestions that the Bord had caused delays in the Strategic Development Zone (SDZ) at Hansfield, near Blanchardstown in the Fingal Council's catchment. Fingal planners overseeing Hansfield said last week that demands by the Bord had slowed development of the scheme, an 82-hectare site expected to contain up to 2,500 houses.

Mr Collins said the implication was that the Bord itself was delaying the scheme, but this was not the case, he said. Both the Adamstown scheme in Lucan and the Clonmagadden Valley scheme outside Navan, Co Meath had been dealt with within the 18-week "statutory objective period", he stated. "The SDZs would be stand-alone. They are new and with two of them we achieved the 18 weeks," he added.

"As regards the Hansfield scheme, the Bord, having considered the inspector's report and recommendation on the appeal, decided to request the planning authority to submit a modified scheme to remedy fundamental deficiencies identified in the draft scheme," Mr Collins said. "This process was also completed in the 18-week period."

Fingal had not come back with a revised plan however and so the Bord was not in a position to make any decision. "No modified plan has been received," Mr Collins said, although it had received correspondence from Fingal on October 26th.

"The foregoing facts show that any problems delivering on new housing in SDZs does not lie with the Bord's approval mechanisms and neither is it dragging its feet in deciding these appeals," he added.

Only three SDZs had been designated by Government and the Bord gives priority to appeals relating to the zones, he said. All three zones had been dealt with including oral hearings, inspectors' reports and recommendations, within the 18-week target.

Yet the same target is now applied to all applications, he added. "The 18-week target includes absolutely everything from the day it arrives into the office to when the decision is made," Mr Collins said. "It is, generally speaking, a tall order."

The system is now geared to deliver a response within this period for any type of application. "It is just easier for people to have as a target the 18 weeks," Mr Collins stated. "Our strategic objective is to deliver 90 per cent of decisions in 18 weeks."

Fingal was the slowest of the three SDZs to respond to requests made by the Bord, he said. "We have extended the time for them. The Bord has asked for further information and that was issued way back in September."

It related to the provision of a rail station and the phasing of the non-housing elements of the scheme including road infrastructure and open spaces. "The Bord isn't anxious to point the finger at Fingal. Everything is put on hold until Fingal responds," he added.

The initial planning proposal forwarded by Fingal in relation to Hansfield was received back in July 2003, Mr Collins said. "It is a long time in the pipeline."

Fingal planners identified three problems at Hansfield that caused difficulties in winning final approval for the scheme. These included bringing the existing St Joseph's Hospital for long-stay elderly patients into the SDZ.

The council was also asked to win approval from the ESB to move overhead power lines underground as a way to increase housing density on the site. The power company rejected this move citing high costs.

The Bord also wanted Fingal to convince Iarnród Eireann to reopen a disused rail line running through Hansfield, but no progress has been made on this.