Sir, – Section 138 of the Planning and Development Act specifically provides for An Bord Pleanála to dismiss appeals when they are made with the sole intention of delaying the development or the intention of securing the payment of money, gifts, consideration or other inducement by any person.
The practice of go-away payments in planning undermines the common good which is the cornerstone of our planning system (Mary Carolan and Jack Power, “‘Go-away money’: When property developers and objectors do deals”, News, Analysis, June 17th).
Instead of being considered accepted, it should be seen as an aberration that individuals would seek to use a cherished (and in an international context, almost unique) part of our planning system, the third-party appeal, or the associated threat of legal action, to enrich themselves. While the public, planners, councillors, design professionals, lawyers, developers and local authority managers all have different roles in the planning system, they are built on a foundation of the common good and mediating the compromises that entails.
Normalising threatening to delay the delivery of housing or other infrastructure with vexatious objections that will be dropped if paid off creates a whiff of sulphur around what needs to be an open and participatory process.
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It only serves to undermine those with legitimate, genuinely held concerns with development on planning grounds. – Yours, etc,
Dr SEÁN O’LEARY, MIPI
Senior Planner,
Irish Planning Institute,
Dublin 2.
