The Labour Party is proposing changes in the planning laws to outlaw land rezoning where it can be shown the changes were proposed on false or misleading information. Tim O'Brien reports.
The party, which is to publish its own Planning Bill when the Dáil resumes at the end of the month, is also seeking to ban the rezoning of land which is the subject of a compulsory purchase order (CPO), at least until the CPO process is concluded.
The party says the changes are required to prevent what it describes as "rushed and incoherent" approaches to drafting development plans. The party said its call for new legislation was prompted "in particular" by recent controversy over the drafting of the Wicklow County Development Plan.
The announcement that the party would be introducing its own Planning and Development Bill was made by Labour spokesman on the Environment Deputy Eamon Gilmore and the party's deputy leader, Wicklow TD Ms Liz McManus, at the weekend.
The Bill proposes to give the Minister for the Environment the power to set aside aspects of the draft development plan where it could be shown that issues were not given adequate consideration by the members of the planning authority. In the case of a local election interrupting the development plan process the new Bill would suspend the time constraints on adopting a development plan, to ensure that all incoming councillors had sufficient time to familiarise themselves with, and fully debate all aspects of the plan.
Crucially the Minister would also have the power to set aside rezoning amendments which are grounded on information that is false or misleading in a material respect.