The Council for the West has called on the new government to eliminate obstacles to job creation that exists in the planning regulations especially in relation to small business projects.
Sean Hannick, the chairman for the Council for the West, welcomed the commitment of both Fine Gael and the Labour party to job creation. However, with the best will in the world job creation would be stymied because of delays and excessive red tape in the planning laws, he added.
Mr Hannick made it clear that the Council for the West respected the need to protect the environment and to have clear planning laws to ensure appropriate development throughout the country. There are major developments that require thorough and detailed scrutiny, but planning officials bring the same level of detail and scrutiny to small projects that have little environmental or planning impact, he added.
“We feel very strongly that job creating projects should be cleared by the planning authorities within two to three months. Our concern relates to projects that have the capacity to create up to a hundred jobs.
“There should be no need for such applications to take any more than a month or two to be cleared by the planning authority. There is a crying need for a fast track approach towards such applications at a time when the country is down on its knees and there are over 400,000 unemployed,” said Mr Hannick.
He added it was criminal that legislation was designed to protect bats, owls and snails while at the same time thousands of well-educated young people were forced to leave the country in search of work.
Mr Hannick also slammed the “culture of objection” that has sprung up in the country with a huge percentage of planning approvals appealed to An Bord Pleanála, “very often on spurious grounds”.
“Individuals and groups who make frivolous appeals to An Bord Pleanála should be made liable to bear the cost to the project caused by the delay if their objection is deemed to be unfounded. The present system makes it far too easy for people who, out of spite or ill-founded concerns, wish to hold up a development by way of an appeal,” he said. “We feel it is very wrong if someone appeals a job creating project to An Bord Pleanala which can cause anything from six to 12 months’ delay at least, and cost the promoters hundreds of thousands if not millions, on unfounded grounds.”
He added that where genuine appeals were made to An Bord Pleanála there should be an onus on the appeals board to issue a decision within three months.
“If we are serious about job creation and if the new government is serious about it then it is imperative that the obstacles that exist have to be removed, especially in relation to job creation proposals,” added Mr Hannick.
