Development Management: Guidelines for Planning Authorities

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   importance here. In all cases, proposed developments, however acceptable in principle, must be sensitive to their local environment. The guidelines focus mainly on process, not policy. The Department has issued a series of planning guidelines2, and it is not intended to repeat such material here. The Department’s policy on development and national roads will be stated in further planning guidelines, currently in preparation, which will also give guidance on carrying out transport assessments in relation to proposed developments. In the meantime, policy on development and national roads is as set out in the National Roads Authority’s Circular Letter 7/2004. 1.3 Achieving quality in the environment Whilst the primary focus of these guidelines is on development management as a process, the underlying objective of that process is to contribute towards a sustainable and high quality environment. Many planning policy objectives aim to protect the natural environment, through prudent use of natural resources and the avoidance of pollution. Development management has the potential to make a significant contribution towards achieving sustainable forms of development, for example: - ¾ by providing higher residential densities in appropriate locations; ¾ by facilitating sustainable forms of transport i.e. public transport, walking and cycling paths in new urban developments; ¾ by preventing pollution of air and water. Development management also influences the design quality of the built environment, which in turn affects not only the users of particular buildings, but also the general public. According to Action on Architecture 2002-20053 “Poor standards of design and construction represent a waste of effort, energy, materials and opportunity. They debase our quality of life now and are a liability for the future. Good architecture contributes to our sense of well-being, both as individuals and as a community and has a positive role to play in mitigating social exclusion”. It is not within the scope of these guidelines to outline urban or rural design criteria. However, development management is best seen as a collaborative effort between the applicant’s design team and relevant planning authority staff (see Chapter 2), where all concerned strive to make successful places for people, in terms of their function, amenity and visual appearance, access, safety and maintenance. Development plans and local area plans should 2 See www.environ.ie for list of current guidelines. 3 Action on Architecture 2002-2005 (former Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, 2002) 10

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   provide clear design principles, but much will depend on the skill of the designers, particularly in responding sensitively to the local context. Planners need to be less reliant on prescriptive standards, and more on performance criteria which facilitate a range of design solutions (see, for example, Chapter 5 Controls and Safeguards in the guidelines on residential density4). Innovative design approaches should be considered on their merits. 1.4 Importance of the development management process A good planning system is essential to ensure a high quality of life for all of us, particularly by ensuring that development is sustainable. The Planning and Development Act 2000 was designed to give us a modern planning system and far-reaching improvements in local government have resulted from the implementation of the Better Local Government programme in recent years, including significantly increased staffing levels in many planning authorities and in the Board. Land use planning has a higher profile in Ireland than ever before. Our population has reached its highest level since 1871, influenced to a significant extent by high economic growth rate. Provisional figures for 2006 indicate that planning authorities handled over 95,000 applications in that year as compared to about 40,000 annually in the early 1990s; this increase has of course led to a consequential increase in the number of planning appeals. 1.5 Best practice in development management Best practice in development management is made up of various elements, such as: ¾ Efficiency in handling planning applications and appeals, and the elimination of avoidable delay; ¾ Rational and consistent decisions; ¾ Effective communication and explanation of decisions; ¾ Reduction in the number of poorly-prepared applications; ¾ Compliance with statutory requirements and fair procedures; ¾ High quality service offered to developers, members of the public, prescribed bodies, and elected representatives; ¾ High quality permitted developments; ¾ Effective planning enforcement. 4 Residential Density: Guidelines for Planning Authorities (DOELG, 1999) 11

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   1.5.1 Efficiency The achievement of greater efficiency throughout the planning system was one of the key objectives of the Planning and Development Act 2000. In particular, the Act introduced tighter time limits for processing planning applications. All applicants are entitled to a decision within the timeframes set by the Act. It is also essential that planning authorities devote adequate resources to dealing with applications for major developments of strategic national, regional or local importance. Planning authorities must therefore seek to give proper consideration to and decide all applications without avoidable delays. The achievement of an effective and efficient planning service is the responsibility of the Manager and the Director of Services in the first instance. The use of information and communications technology offers significant potential in this regard both for planning authorities and for applicants and their agents (see para. 1.6). 1.5.2 Statutory requirements and fair procedures Decisions on planning applications affect people’s rights, whether those of the applicant or of third parties, and determine the form of the future built environment. The planning process is therefore governed both by statutory requirements and the principles of natural justice and fair procedures under administrative law. If a planning decision is held by the courts to breach such principles, it risks being set aside. Relevant principles include: ¾ Avoidance of bias: Those involved in making planning decisions must have no vested interest in the outcome and must not demonstrate any bias either for or against particular applicants5. Each application must be judged solely on its merits; ¾ Procedural fairness: Decision-makers must be seen to evaluate all material considerations for and against a proposed development in an open and transparent manner. This requirement is of particular relevance in the preparation of the planning reports; ¾ Providing reasons for decisions: Section 34(10) of the Act requires that the main reasons and considerations on which the decision on a planning application was based must be given. In the case of a decision to refuse permission, the applicant is entitled to know all of the relevant reasons for refusal: this will also allow him/her to assess the prospects of a revised application or of an appeal to the Board. In the event that a planning decision is 5 See Local Government Act 2001: Code of Conduct for Employees (DEHLG, 2004), particularly section 3 dealing with conflict of personal and public interest. 12

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   challenged in a court it also important that the court be able to ascertain how it was reached. ¾ Consistency: Consistency in the interpretation of development plan policies is essential if public confidence in the planning system is to be maintained, although of course decisions on individual applications will vary in light of the land use considerations that apply to them. Achievement of consistency requires that suitable management structures be in place in planning authorities; Directors of Service have a particular responsibility in this regard. Where the individual circumstances indicate the need to depart from normal policy, the reasons should be explained. Also, while area offices enable some larger planning authorities to offer a more convenient service to the public, there is a need to ensure consistency of approach (e.g. in interpreting development plan policies) between such offices. The issue of consistency is dealt with in more detail at para. 6.7). Good development management needs a balanced and common sense approach that seeks to reconcile the need for development and the legitimate concerns of those who may be affected by it. Informed professional judgement will be guided by planning and other relevant Government and Ministerial policies, while not adopting an over-rigid stance, and by objective evaluation of the arguments presented for and against specific proposals. 1.5.3 Customer focus A focus on the customer is an important way of ensuring a high quality planning system. Planning may be perceived as complex and bureaucratic to those who do not interact with it on a regular basis: courtesy and helpfulness towards customers can do much to dispel such perceptions. Planning officials are also, of course, entitled to courtesy from their customers. Better Local Government: A Programme for Change (1996) aimed at the provision of quality services to the citizen and stressed the need to ensure that the delivery of public services is driven by the requirements of customer needs. Much has been achieved in recent years, including the development of local offices and an increased focus on area-based delivery of services. The launch of nationwide service indicators in 2000 has helped to drive the process. A revised set of local authority service indicators was published in January 20046, some of which relate directly to planning and the development management process: ¾ P1 - Planning applications – decision-making; 6 Delivering Value for People: Service indicators in local authorities (DEHLG, 2004) 13

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   ¾ P2 - Planning enforcement; ¾ P3 - Public opening hours; ¾ P4 - Time taken to provide pre-application consultations. Information on indicators should be presented in each local authority’s annual report, to inform both the elected members and the general public. The indicators can also be used as part of a regular management review process to monitor performance in the planning service. Local authorities, where they are not already doing so, are encouraged to develop their own local indicators to supplement the nation-wide list of service indicators. For instance, planning authorities might seek customer feedback on the planning service by asking users of the service to complete a feedback form. Some of the local indicators should be qualitative, e.g. measuring sustainable development. The planning service, including development management, has a variety of customers – all of whom are important – including the applicant, third parties, prescribed bodies, elected members and the public at large. In endeavouring to meet their legitimate expectations, planning authorities should ensure that the interests of the common good, referred to in the long title of the 2000 Act, remain paramount. ¾ Applicants: Applicants for planning permission are entitled to a courteous and helpful service that aims to provide them with all necessary information, including relevant national and local policies, for the preparation of high quality applications, and to process their applications without avoidable delay. ¾ Third parties: Those who may have an interest in a planning application are entitled to ready access to the application and to the policy context in which it will be determined, including the development plan, any local area plan and the planning history of the site. The Internet offers considerable advantages in this regard. Persons who have made submissions on a planning application are entitled to be informed speedily of the decision on the application. ¾ Prescribed bodies: Statutory consultees should be notified as early as possible in relation to categories of development that are likely to affect them. This is absolutely necessary in order to allow them time to assess applications and make submissions if desired and thus exercise their rights to participate in the planning process as intended by the legislation. ¾ Elected members: Councillors will generally have an interest in how the development plan, which they have adopted, is applied. Individual councillors, in their representative capacity, are entitled to make submissions and should be kept informed on particular applications. Use of modern IT systems can provide councillors with a range of relevant information, thus saving time in responding 14

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   to routine queries. It should be noted that a public representative does not have to pay the fee when making an enquiry with a planning authority as to the position regarding an application or simply supporting or when supporting or objecting to the application in general terms without elaborating on the grounds of the application or on a submission by an observer. However, where a public representative makes a formal submission, i.e. elaborates on the grounds of an application or a submission or raises a substantive new issue, the submission cannot be considered by the planning authority unless it is accompanied by the appropriate fee. ¾ The public at large: Whether in general, or in relation to a particular planning application, members of the public need to have confidence that the process is being carried out in the interests of the common good. Relatively simple changes, such as good facilities at public counters and longer opening hours, can have a major impact on how customers view their experience of dealing with the planning service. Lunchtime opening is highly desirable in the interests of an accessible service. Public offices should provide ready access to the development plan, local area plans/integrated area plans, the planning register and advisory leaflets, together with suitably designed desks for examining planning files and development plan maps. Counter staff should be trained to respond to routine planning queries, with planners available (perhaps on a rota basis, unless clinics are provided – see Chapter 2) to deal with more technical issues. Planning authorities might also consider establishing user liaison groups to get feedback and suggestions on their operation of the system. Best practice example Cork City Council have provided for extended opening hours in the Planning Office from 9.30 am to 4.30 pm, not by employing additional staff, but by implementing a system whereby planning staff at all levels, both administrative and technical, operate a rota system at lunchtime to equally share the additional duties. Planning authorities should also, of course, be aware of their responsibilities under sections 26 to 28 of the Disability Act 2005 which require public bodies, where practical and relevant, to make services and information accessible to people with disabilities. The National Disability Authority’s 2006 Code of Practice on Accessibility of Public Services and Information provided by Public Bodies gives practical guidance in this area (website www.nda.ie). 15

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   1.5.4 Information sharing and networking It is recommended that planning authorities put systems in place to network and share relevant information between the different sections/departments in the authority, e.g. roads, housing, water services and environment, so that staff are informed about the policy aims of those other departments. It is also highly desirable that planning staff have communication links with their counterparts in other planning authorities, whether by e-mail networks or otherwise. This will enable planning staff to share experiences and expertise in development management and will promote consistency of approach throughout planning authorities. 1.6 Role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in delivery of improved development management E-Planning – i.e. using ICTs to deliver as many planning services online as possible – has the potential not only to facilitate private citizens and corporate bodies to interact more easily and conveniently with planning, but also to greatly increase the speed and efficiency of the entire planning process. ICT advances in planning administration systems, document imaging and management systems and geographic information systems have a huge role to play in delivering an improved development management process. ICTs, on the one hand, give planning staff a more powerful resource in dealing with current development proposals and in retrieving complete sets of historical site data. On the other hand, they offer the possibility of giving applicants, agents, prescribed bodies, the Board, members of the public, public representatives, etc. an appropriate level of access over the world wide web in order to conduct business with the planning authority on a 24-hour basis without the necessity of attending in person at the authority's offices to do so. Most planning authorities, and the Board, have developed user-friendly web sites which offer ever-increasing levels of service to the public, including in some instances the possibility of viewing details of current planning applications. This is clearly an area which provides scope for further development. 1.7 Layout of the Guidelines The guidelines follow a generally chronological approach, from pre-application consultations to ensuring that a development is completed in accordance with the terms of the planning permission. Where relevant, examples of best practice are cited. 16

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   Chapter 2 Pre-Application Consultation 2.1 Introduction Pre-application consultation is generally very beneficial and will improve the quality of a subsequent planning application. It is in the interest of the planning authority and the applicant that the latter has the maximum amount of relevant information on the application process itself, development plan objectives and other relevant considerations prior to making a planning application. This Chapter deals with the pre-application stage of the planning application process. 2.2 Making information available to potential applicants Outside of, or before, actual consultation, it is important that planning authorities make the maximum amount of relevant information available to potential applicants to assist them in relation to a possible planning application. Apart from the statutory requirement to maintain the planning register7 and to make copies of the development plan available for inspection or purchase8, it is very much in the interest of both the planning authority and the prospective applicant that the latter should be able to readily access all relevant background information. Planning authorities should ensure that not only is all such information easily accessible in the vicinity of the public counter, together with desks or tables to facilitate examination of large plans or maps, but that trained staff are available to answer queries of a general nature. It is also desirable that planning authorities would make much of this information available through their websites, as doing so will greatly facilitate access at a time and place convenient to customers and will relieve the pressure at public counters. Ancillary information, such as local area plans, DEHLG planning leaflets, Government directives and guidelines, Record of Protected Structures, heritage and conservation maps (including information on Special Areas of Conservation, etc.) should also be provided near the public counter and online, either on the planning authorities’ websites or through relevant links. Where plans/studies have been prepared (such as Integrated Framework Plans or Local Area Plans), these also should be available for viewing at the public counter. 2.3 Pre-application consultation: general Pre-application consultation in its broadest sense covers a range of contacts between potential applicants and the planning authority, which can include contact/discussion/communication face-to-face, by telephone, letter, fax, or e- 7 Section 7 of the Act 8 Section 16 of the Act 17

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   mail. Very frequently potential applicants will contact a planning authority with general queries and the availability of assistance here is a valuable and helpful service to the public and may avoid the necessity, on the prospective applicant’s part, to seek more elaborate consultation. Planning authorities should ensure that staff are readily available to deal with such casual enquiries. A number of planning authorities offer informal planning advice through clinics, sometimes held in local offices. It is important to ensure that the planning staff that attend such clinics are given appropriate training to deal in an efficient and helpful manner with the public. The type of consultation provided will vary greatly, depending on the nature and scale of the proposed development, and on the staff resources available to the planning authority. Every effort should be made to facilitate, as far as is practicable, reasonable demands for pre-application consultations, and planning authorities should use whatever format is considered appropriate to their circumstances to facilitate such requests. Efforts should also be made, however, to provide consultation in the form that it is requested. Requests for consultations should be acceptable by telephone or in writing. Whatever form of consultation is requested, e.g. a meeting, a telephone conversation or response to an e-mail, planning authorities should aim to facilitate such requests as soon as possible, but in any event within 2-3 weeks. Some of the above communications will constitute section 247 consultations while some will not. Paragraph 2.5 below attempts to clarify this issue, while promoting the greatest flexibility for planning authorities. The provision of pre-application consultations does have resource implications for planning authorities, but such consultations merit investment of resources because of the overall benefits to the planning system, particularly in terms of improved quality of planning applications and development proposals. The Department’s Architectural Heritage Protection Guidelines for Planning Authorities (2004) should be consulted in relation to pre-application consultations involving protected structures9. 2.4 Benefits of pre-application consultation Pre-application consultation has many benefits. Such consultations will generally improve the quality of a subsequent planning application and will ideally obviate the necessity for seeking additional information. They provide the applicant/agent with an opportunity to discuss/consult on the merits of a proposal for development at an early stage and to avoid wasting time and money on a development proposal that has no chance of success. Such consultations also allow the planning authority an opportunity to play a proactive role in guiding a project from its inception in accordance with proper planning and sustainable development principles. More specifically, consultations can be of value in: 9 See also Chapter 7 below in relation to consultation with fire officers. 18

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    ¾ Applying development plan/local area plan objectives to a particular site, and especially assessing how the design treatment responds to the local context, thus allowing the planning authority to input to design and layout at an early stage; ¾ Co-ordinating the various local authority inputs to a complex or large-scale proposed development (see also para. 2.7 below); ¾ Informing the applicant about local policy documents such as design guides, Action Area Plans, framework plans; ¾ Suggesting that further specialist advice be sought, e.g. in relation to conservation of the built or natural environment; ¾ Advising prospective applicants of procedural requirements, such as: o Planning application requirements, particularly in relation to protected structures; o Necessity to carry out Environmental Impact Assessment in certain cases; o Necessity to obtain IPPC licence or waste licence in certain cases; o Need to comply with other planning guidelines, where relevant, e.g. Retail Planning Guidelines, Sustainable Rural Housing Guidelines, Childcare Facilities Guidelines; o Implications of Building Control legislation, including provisions in relation to fire safety and access for the disabled (including, following the enactment/commencement of the Building Control Act 2007, provisions regarding Disability Access Certificates); o The necessity to ensure that the design implications of accessibility for all are addressed in the approach routes to buildings, including the location of car parking and other related issues; the National Disability Authority’s publication “Building for Everyone” offers good practice on this issue; consultation with representative organisations of people with disabilities may also be of assistance; o Application of Major Accidents Directive in certain cases; o Possible exemptions for minor developments under section 5 of the Planning Act, and the mechanism for seeking a declaration that a particular development is exempted. The number and nature of requests for further information may reveal, in particular planning authorities, other general matters that could benefit from discussion in pre-application consultations. The carrying out of consultations cannot, however, prejudice the performance by a planning authority of any other of its functions under the Planning Act or under ancillary regulations. The prospective applicant should be reminded of 19

Source Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government: Development Management: Guidelines for Planning Authorities (June 2007) · Licence the publisher's termsText read from the publisher’s PDF; tables, maps and drawings do not survive as text, and page numbers are the PDF’s (its first page is 1). Check the original before relying on a passage.