The Planning and Development Act 2024 was signed into law in the dying days of the outgoing Government. It was a central plank of the Coalition’s housing strategy and aims to speed up the planning process.
The act replaces An Bord Pleanála with a new body, An Coimisiún Pleanála, and sets timelines for decision making and other reforms. It also attempts to limit the scope and nature of judicial reviews of planning decisions. The measures are intended to accelerate the construction of housing and other infrastructure. It is a notable legislative achievement on the last Dáil, even if some criticisms of the legislation by expert voices needs to be heeded in the implementation phase.
The incoming government – most likely made up in the main by the two largest members of the outgoing Coalition – will, however, have little time to rest on its laurels. The legal framework of the planning system may have been improved but unless sufficient resources are invested in the planning and court structures that ultimately oversee its functioning, the impact will be diluted and the hoped for gains will be delayed at best.
The chronic delay in resourcing the planning system in recent years was partly the result of controversies, but it took far too long to sort this out. The next government needs to realise that all its plans for housing and infrastructure rest on the ability to get planning right.
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The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council has identified faster planning decisions, and higher thresholds for rejection of plans, as measures that could help deliver housing and other infrastructure projects. But the extent of the impact of the new act in this regard remains to be seen, according to the council. In other words, it is only when the act is implemented that it will be clear whether it is addressing the chronic delays which have held up many major projects.
To maximise the chance of success, all arms of the system need to work efficiently. As well as the key planning bodies and the local authorities, the courts must also be adequately resourced. The new government should take heed of the recent call from the President of the High Court for the appointment of more judges to the planning and environmental division of the High Court.
There has been an enormous increase in the number of cases coming before the court – which has three full judges allocated to it - according to Justice David Barniville, who pointed out that the number of cases before the court almost doubled between October and November.
The division has already made significant improvements in areas such as case management and prioritisation but is nearing the limit of what can be achieved by such measures. The outgoing government has already accepted the argument for the appointment of additional judges and following through on this commitment should be a priority for the next one.