Green Party says Strategic Infrastucture Bill an attack on local democracy
The Green Party has accused the Government of undermining local democracy with today’s publication of the Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Bill 2006. According to Green Party councillor, Deirdre de Burca, The Bill will do little to speed up major projects, but will instead dramatically curtail the public’s participation in the planning process.
Cllr de Burca says, “This Bill is an attack on local democracy, and will do little or nothing to speed up the planning process. The main planning delays to major projects are due to High Court challenges and poor quality applications in the first instance. The Bill does nothing to remedy these failings”.
“The Bill will allow controversial developments such as gas refineries, port land reclamation and incinerators to bypass local government. The views of local authority staff, councillors and the public will be sidelined.
“With the publication of this Bill the Government is effectively ignoring the Aarhus Convention, an international agreement which it signed in 1998. That Convention aims to enhance public participation in decision-making. Under European Directives the Convention should have been transposed into Irish law by last January, but to date Environment Minister Dick Roche has failed to do so”.
“This Bill goes in the opposite direction to the undertakings given under that Convention, as it limits the public’s ability to participate in planning decisions.
“It gives An Bord Pleanála a consultation role whereby it can engage in consultation with prospective applicants. Such a close relationship with developers will compromise the Board’s quasi-judicial role, as the public will be excluded from this process. It will be difficult for the public to make their views known to the Board as developers will surely employ legal experts to represent their views, and those resources are not available to most of the public.
“The publication of this Bill shows that this Government and the current Minister for the Environment Dick Roche are closer to their friends in the building industry than to the needs of ordinary communities.
“A better way of addressing planning delays would be to set up a special division of the High Court to address planning cases, and give more resources to the roll-out of the National Spatial Strategy which is operating on a shoestring budget within the Department of the Environment,” adds Cllr de Burca.
