Planning objectors ‘must be clearly identifiable’

A Galway TD has accused the Minister for Housing and Planning of “washing his hands” of proposals to ensure anyone who lodges an appeal with An Bord Pleanála must be clearly identifiable.

Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív called for legislation to be introduced to guarantee that any person who appeals against a planning decision must be identifiable – in an effort to prevent anonymous or vexatious appeals.

He cited the example of a planning application on the site of the former Warwick Hotel in Salthill which was approved by Galway City Council in June 2018.

A person named Iura Matel, with an address in Dublin, appealed the decision and sought an oral hearing with An Bord Pleanála. When the hearing convened the following January, the appellant was not present and it had to be abandoned.

Legal counsel for the developers, David Browne, said they were concerned over the legitimacy of the appeal, as Mr Matel’s name had been spelled differently on three documents submitted to the Board; correspondence sent by registered post was returned on two occasions and the Register of Electors did not show a ‘hit’ on various permutations of the name at the address given.

Deputy Ó Cuív said he was disappointed that Minister Eoghan Murphy did not intend to make changes to the law.

In response to a Parliamentary Question from Deputy Ó Cuív, the Minister said: “Legislative provision already exists to ensure appeals to An Bord Pleanála can identify appellants and gives the Board the discretion to dismiss appeals.”

The Galway West Deputy said this week: “There have been cases where people made appeals against planning permission, both at local government level and at national level, that did not live at the address they gave.

“There was one particular case that was highlighted in Galway recently where a person who clearly did not live at an address, appealed against local planning permission, having objected to it at the local authority stage of the process.

“When the appeal went to Oral Hearing, the appellant did not turn up and the applicant had made strenuous efforts to verify that the appellant did not live at the address given.

“In his reply to my question, the Minister fudged the issue. He said that legislative provision already exists to ensure appeals to An Bord Pleanála can identify appellants and give the Board the discretion to dismiss appeals.

“It goes on to say that the appellants name is published by the Board on the weekly lists on their website and that he does not intend changing the law to tighten up the issue. The reality is in the case where the applicant, who has been appealed against by an anonymous appellant, should have had the case dismissed,” said Deputy Ó Cuív.

He said the law needs to be strengthened and suggested that a PPS number or relevant tax number should be required from all appellants.

“Furthermore, I believe that if an address is given, that the Board should have the power to insist on proof of address being given, if they believe the person does not live at the address they have submitted in their appeal. I will continue to press this matter, despite the rejection by the Minister of the case that I made,” he said.