Critics of An Bord Pleanála's record don't understand its role, chairman John O'Connor tells Frank McDonald, Environment Editor

The chairman of An Bord Pleanála has defended its recent refusals of permission for several high-density housing schemes in the Dublin area by saying that it had to "take a longer term view of the environmental and social implications".

Replying to a series of questions submitted in writing by The Irish Times, John O'Connor said the board had "a major responsibility, in the public interest, to ensure that its decisions are based on proper planning and sustainable development".

He said some recent criticisms of the bord's record were based on a "poor understanding" of its role as the final arbiter of planning applications.

"The bord must, and will, continue to carry out its statutory duties independent of vested interests."

Mr O'Connor was referring to a recent report by estate agent Hooke & MacDonald, which claimed that An Bord Pleanála's refusals for several major high-density housing schemes in south Co Dublin were "completely at odds with Government housing policy".

He said the bord has "strongly supported" the implementation of Government policy on the need to increase the density of new housing schemes in urban and suburban areas, "in order to avoid unsustainable sprawl and facilitate viable public transport".

Noting that the bord had granted permission for many high-density housing schemes in Dublin and elsewhere, Mr O'Connor said its decisions were grounded in the 1999 Residential Density Guidelines and the relevant city or county development plans.

Given that such schemes would "house communities for many decades into the future", he said: "Essentially, it is a question of striking a balance between the need to increase densities and the reasonable protection of the existing and proposed residential environment".

It was in this context that the bord had refused permission for a number of schemes where the provisions of the 1999 guidelines or the policies of the local development plan "had not been given sufficient consideration and the necessary balance had been lost".

Referring to the fact that several of the board's recent refusals were for major schemes in the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown area, Mr O'Connor noted that a number of these decisions had been "widely welcomed by local public representatives and the general public".

Noting that the pattern of appeal decisions in relation to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown "is not mirrored" elsewhere in Dublin, he said many large-scale housing schemes had been granted by the board, while others were refused because the density was too low.

"Over the past few years, I have repeatedly stressed the importance of good design in achieving an acceptable quality of living environment in large, high-density residential developments. This view reflects the policies of the Government's own Residential Density Guidelines."

These guidelines "emphasise that the overriding concern in new, high-density housing, should be the quality of the residential environment and that residential developments of higher densities must satisfy certain criteria which contribute to this environment".

These criteria, set out in Section 5 of the guidelines, include indicative limits for plot ratio, minimum separation between buildings and setting standards for the provision of open space. (The guidelines are currently being revised by the Department of the Environment).

Below is a record of the questions put to Mr O'Connor and his answers.