Level of appeals causing planning decision delays

A record number of planning appeals is putting An Bord Pleanála under "severe strain" and hindering it from meeting statutory deadlines for issuing decisions, its chairman said today.

At the publication of the board's annual report for 2005, John O'Connor said the percentage of cases being decided within the 18-week statutory time objective has fallen back from 78 per cent last year to 53 per cent in 2006.

Mr O'Connor said the intake of appeals and infrastructure cases for 2006 was running at a record level and was likely to to exceed the 6,000 mark by the year's end.

The number of cases being dealt with by the board at the end of September this year was 2253, an increase of 19 per cent on the same month last year.

As a consequence, he said, it is proving difficult to maintain the satisfactory performance in terms of the time taken to determine appeals.

The continuing high volume of appeals reflected the general increase in planning applications to local authorities and was not due to an increase in the rate of appeal, which has consistently remained at around 7 per cent nationally, Mr O'Connor said.

The Board was "taking all possible measures to deal with the backlog, and to get back to achieving its overall strategic objective to dispose of 90 per cent of cases within 18 weeks," he added.

The chairman was particularly critical of some local authorities who he said were not protecting the multi-billion euro investment programme currently being undertaken in the national roads network.

He noted the Board had refused approval for a number of proposals designed to facilitate local development but at the expense of the carrying capacity and safety of national roads.

"There is a severe risk that unless attention is strongly focussed on the real purpose of the current national roads investment programme - to facilitate safe and efficient transport between the major urban centres - it will be lost sight of in favour of local considerations," he warned.

"Already, there are signs that major retail, commercial and residential developments are being attracted to greenfield sites at strategic junctions on new national primary roads, piggy backing on these roads as distributors for local traffic," he added.

The Board also said it was gearing up for its new functions under the Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Act 2006 which aims to give local authorities and other statutory bodies a greater say in the planning of infrastructural projects of national significance.

"The Board intends, in its general approach and specific procedures, that such participation will be meaningful and that its assessment of projects will be independent, fair and fully transparent."