An avalanche of planning appeals and a shortage of staff are contributing toward continued delays in the planning appeals process. An Board Pleanala was about four to five weeks on average behind its own target of processing appeals within four months of application.
Statistics for the most recent three-month period available, April-June, show that 1,190 cases were received by the board. All but a handful were planning appeals, according to Dermot Collins, of An Bord Pleanala. "That is the highest number of appeals we have had in the quarter since 1983," he said. The average processing period for these was 22 weeks from time of receipt, he said. "Our target, the statutory target is four months."
Part of the problem relates to staffing levels of planning inspectors. The Government sanctioned a recruitment drive last spring and numbers have been rising since.
There were 81.5 staff at the end of March, but this now stood at 96.5, Mr Collins said. (The fraction represents job sharing.) "We are still recruiting people," he added and new ads were placed in the newspapers last week.
The number of board members had also increased from nine to 10 following a recent appointment by the Minister for the Environment. Staff numbers are up by about 30 on figures for 1995.
A shortage of fully trained planners forced the board to broaden its search for staff to the UK. The board expects to advertise in Britain again during the current recruitment round. The board was currently preparing its annual report and was reluctant to discuss the current level of planning delays or their implications until the report was put before the two Houses of the Oireachtas.
According to Department of the Environment statistics, of the 972 appeals received during the first quarter of 1999, 137 had been with the board for over six months and seven cases had been with the board in excess of seven months.
Building industry sources estimate that only about 40 per cent of appeals received between April and June will have been processed within the target of four months. First quarter of 1999 appeals processed within the four month target stood at almost 70 per cent.
