7th Schedule SID: Applicant Guidelines

1. Introduction

The strategic infrastructure provisions of the Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Act 2006 (the 2006 Act) came into effect on 31st January 2007. The Act, which amended the Planning and Development Act 2000 (the 2000 Act), provides generally for applications for permission/approval for specified private and public strategic infrastructure developments to be made directly to the Board.

Part 18 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2006 (S.I. No. 685 of 2006) relating to the procedural aspects of processing strategic infrastructure development casework also came into effect on 31st January 2007. The 2006 Regulations amend the Planning and Development Regulations 2001.

Strategic infrastructure developments (mostly private developments) to which these guidelines refer are those listed in the 7th Schedule to the 2000 Act as amended. These generally relate to major energy, transport, environmental and health infrastructure.

Sections 37H(2), 182B(5), 182D(5) of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended and section 47D of the Transport (Railway Infrastructure) Act 2001, as amended allows the Board to determine the amount of costs incurred in conducting pre-application consultations and complying with scoping requests in addition to determining costs involved in processing an application for 7th Schedule developments, electricity transmission lines, strategic gas infrastructure developments, and railway orders.

The determination of such costs will be made by the Board when it makes a final decision on the application (see also Section 5.11).

The statutory provisions provide for up to three stages – pre-application consultations; discretionary scoping of the EIAR; and the application for permission.