Bord Pleanala willing to extend role

An Bord Pleanala has said it has the capacity to deal with the extra functions assigned to it under the Planning and Development Bill, while acknowledging that current delays in its workload are "unacceptable".

According to its annual report issued yesterday, the board faced a record number of planning appeals last year - up 71 per cent on the annual average over 10 years to 4,548 - but it also notes that, with the deployment of extra staff, "there is now a distinct prospect of reducing the backlog significantly over the next three to six months". The chairman of Bord Pleanala Mr Paddy O'Duffy, said there were also signs that the intake of cases and the backlog might be reaching a peak and that the intake of cases this year "may only be marginally greater than in 1998".

The number of cases disposed of in the first half of 1999 was 2,194, an increase of 60 per cent on the corresponding period last year. Mr O'Duffy added that the trend showed the "significant improvement in the productivity of the board in recent years". The number of staff and board members averaged 70 during 1986-95, but increased by 34 per cent to 94 by the end of March 1999 and reached 106 by last September.

The report also notes the board's conclusion that the attachment of conditions on planning permissions relating to the provision of social or affordable housing is beyond its powers.

The possibility of imposing similar conditions on permission compelling developers to make financial contributions to the planning authority, in lieu of social or affordable housing, was also considered to be beyond the board's powers. These issues would, however, be addressed in section V of the Planning Bill.