THE GOVERNMENT HAS approved the new Planning and Development Bill, which it says will be the biggest overhaul of the planning system in a generation.

As well as introducing statutory timelines for planning decisions, the Bill will also introduce significant changes to An Bord Pleanála, with the organisation to be renamed An Coimisiún Pleanála. 

The new timelines for planning applications will range from 18 weeks for appeals to 48 weeks for more complex issues and An Board Pleanála will be subject to fines if these timelines aren’t adhered to.

The most recent data for 2023 shows that up until the end of August, just 27% of planning appeals disposed of by An Board Pleanála were dealt with within 18 weeks.

The average time taken for these appeals was 47 weeks . 

Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien brought the updated Bill to Cabinet this morning with a number of key changes from the draft Bill that was released earlier this year. 

First approved by Cabinet in late 2022, when the initial Bill was published earlier this year it attracted criticism due to the reforms relating to how judicial reviews are brought, with the Bill changing how residents associations can take cases against planning decisions.

At just under 700 pages, today’s Bill is 20% bigger than the draft released earlier this year.

In the new version of the Bill, some of these changes have been rolled back.

Residential associations will still allowed to take judicial reviews against planning decisions once they can show that a vote has taken place among their members (in line with a constitution), and that a two-thirds majority in favour of the judicial review has been secured.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said today that the new law will “ensure that there are fewer vexatious [judicial] reviews”.

“Bear in mind what happens, you can have really important housing projects, really important transport projects, really important renewable energy projects. They can get held up for two and three years for a judicial review that either fails or is then withdrawn.

“What are the consequences of that? Who are the losers? We all are because we have to pay higher costs because projects get delayed and people who need housing for example, have to wait longer for that housing to be built,” the Taoiseach said today.

Environmental Legal Cost Scheme

In addition to the overhaul of An Bord Pleanála, the statutory timelines, and the changes to how residents associations can take judicial reviews, the new law will also introduce an Environmental Legal Cost Scheme. 

The Environmental Legal Cost Scheme aims to ensure that the cost to applicants of taking a judicial review of a planning decision is not prohibitively expensive. 

As part of the scheme, there will be a scale of fees for all planning judicial reviews. Each party will bear its own cost however if an applicant wins it will be able to recover its costs in line with the scale of fees. 

If an applicant does not win, it must bear its own costs but can apply to the Environmental Legal Costs Scheme for legal aid which will be means tested.

Commenting on the Bill today, Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien said the new legislation will touch “nearly every facet of government and of Irish life”.

The overhaul of An Bord Pleanála, comes in the wake of the controversy in the planning body last year, which resulted in Chairperson Dave Walsh opting to retire early in November.

The re-organisation will see the introduction of Planning Commissioners and a Governing Executive, as well as the separation of both decision-making and the corporate roles.

The Bill is expected to become law in 2024 and will be introduced on a phased basis.