AA Applications - Section 177AE: Administrative Matters

4. Administrative Matters

4.1 Application: Article 249 of the Planning and Development Regulations, 2001 as amended by the Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2011 provides that when a local authority makes an application to the Board it shall send:

• 3 copies of the plans and particulars of the proposed development,
• 3 copies of the NIS for the proposed development,
• a copy of the notice published under section 177AE(4)(a), and
• a list of the bodies to which notice was sent under section 177AE(4)(b), a copy of each notice and an indication of the date on which the notice was sent.

In all cases one of the three copies as required above must be a soft copy (eg CD pdf format). Plans and particulars which contain colour in the hard copy format must also be provided in colour in electronic format. Similarly all those provided in colour in electronic format must be provided in colour in hard copy format.

4.2 Prescribed Authorities / Notices: Under section 177AE(4)(b) of the Planning and Development Act, 2000, as amended, a local authority should notify all relevant prescribed authorities of the application.
The notice to each prescribed authority should contain a copy of the application and the NIS; electronic format should suffice unless a prescribed authority requests a hard copy. The notice should state that submissions or observations may be made to An Bord Pleanála and the period given for submissions or observations should be the same period for submissions or observations as given in the newspaper notices (not being less than 6 weeks).

The notice should also state that submissions or observations may be made in relation to all the relevant considerations referred to in section 3(1) above.

Article 251 of the Planning and Development Regulations, 2001, as amended by the Planning and Development (Amendment)(No. 3) Regulations 2011, provides that the prescribed authorities for the purpose of section 177AE(4) shall be the same as those prescribed for the purposes of section 175(4) of the 2000 Act as set out in article 121 (as amended).

4.3 Public Notices: S 177AE(4)(a) sets out the public notice form and content requirements for local authorities. This includes requirements for publishing a notice in at least one local newspaper. There is no fee for submissions from the public.

4.4 Oral Hearings: An Bord Pleanála may decide to hold an oral hearing to assist it in the determination of applications (although in most cases this may not be deemed necessary). A need for an oral hearing will be dependent on the scale, nature, extent and complexity of the case and nature of submissions received and is entirely at the discretion of the Board. An Bord Pleanála will generally hold an oral hearing where an application for approval in whole or part is associated with a compulsory purchase order for the compulsory acquisition of land where objections have been received and confirmation of the compulsory purchase order therefore falls to the Board.

4.5. Costs and Expenses: An Bord Pleanála will direct payment be made by the local authority to the Board towards reasonable costs and expenses it has incurred (section 177AE(9)). Clear and comprehensive application documentation will however facilitate efficient examination of the case by An Bord Pleanála.

4.6 EPA: There are particular provisions concerning proposed developments relating to an activity for which an integrated pollution control licence or waste licence is required ( section 177AE(10)).

4.7 Road Development: Local authority road developments not needing an EIS but needing AA must be the subject of an application under s. 177AE (article 15 of the European Union (Environmental Impact Assessment and Habitats) Regulations, 2011).

4.8 EIS and NIS: Where a proposed development requires both an EIS and NIS one application is adequate. The local authority must however comply with the requirements of both sections 175 and 177AE e.g. the associated public notice must refer to and describe the proposed development subject of the EIS and the NIS (article 15 of the European Union (Environmental Impact Assessment and Habitats) Regulations, 2011). These provisions also apply to local authority road cases under s. 50 of the Roads Act where both EIS and NIS are required.