Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 2 July 2024
254. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to consider reviewing the impact of roads policies brought in by Transport Infrastructure Ireland on local authority policy planning in rural Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27852/24]
View answerNational policy in relation to the provision of access to national roads is set out in the Spatial Planning and National Roads Guidelines for Planning Authorities (2012) which were issued by the Minister under section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000. Section 28 requires that planning authorities and An Bord Pleanála shall have regard to Ministerial guidelines in the performance of their functions under the Act.
The Guidelines seek to protect the capacity, efficiency and safety of national roads and their strategic transport function through both the plan-making and development management processes. This approach is also reflected in the National Planning Framework and the respective Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies.
The Guidelines are clear that the planning system must ensure that the strategic function of national roads is maintained by limiting the extent of development that would give rise to the generation of short trip traffic on national roads or alternatively by ensuring that the trip demand from future development will primarily be catered for on the non-national network.
The Guidelines provide clear policy direction to planning authorities in relation to the process to be followed before a proposed exemption in relation to access to national roads is included in a development plan. Consultation with TII is central to this process, and a collaborative and evidence-based approach is required by virtue of that authority’s role as a prescribed body in the plan-making process pursuant to Article 13 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001 to 2024.
The necessity for a collaborative approach is reaffirmed by virtue of the statutory obligation on planning authorities under Article 28 of the Regulations to notify TII of any planning application received involving development that consists of or comprises the formation, laying out or material widening of an access to a national road, not being within a built-up area. This obligation also separately applies in cases where the proposed development might give rise to a significant increase in the volume of traffic using a national road.
With regard to the current Guidelines and any potential review, it should be noted that the Planning and Development Bill 2023 includes provisions which propose to replace Section 28 Ministerial Planning Guidelines with ‘National Planning Statements’. Following enactment of the legislation, it is proposed to undertake a programme of review of existing Section 28 guidelines with the intention of replacing them with National Planning Statements, noting that this programme of work will be sequenced over time. It is envisaged that public consultation will be undertaken as part of this process.
