PART III.

Preparation of Planning Schemes.

24. —(1) The Minister shall by order make regulations in relation to the several matters and things mentioned in the First Schedule to this Act.

(2) Every regulation made by the Minister under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling such regulation is passed by either such House within the next subsequent twenty-one days on which such House has sat after such regulation is laid before it, such regulation shall be annulled accordingly but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under such regulation.

25. —The Minister may, as and when he thinks fit, prepare and publish, for the use and guidance of planning authorities and other persons interested, general instructions in relation to the preparation of planning schemes, together with model forms of planning schemes and of provisions and clauses usually inserted in planning schemes.

26. —(1) A planning authority may, by resolution in the prescribed form of the intention to propose which not less than one month's notice has been given in writing to every member of such authority and notice has been published at least once in each of two successive weeks in three newspapers (of which at least one is a daily newspaper) circulating in the planning region or planning district of such authority, and for the passing of which more than half the members of such authority have voted, decide to make a planning scheme for (as the case may be) their planning region or any specified part thereof or their planning district or any specified part thereof.

(2) A resolution under this section shall not be invalidated by the making of an amendment therein after the giving and publication of notice of such resolution in accordance with this section and before the passing of such resolution, unless the effect of such amendment is to include in the area to which such resolution relates an area which was not so included when notice of such resolution was so given and published.

(3) It shall not be lawful for a planning authority to revoke a resolution duly passed under this section deciding to make a planning scheme.

(4) Where the planning authority by whom a planning scheme (in this sub-section referred to as the existing scheme) was made pass a resolution for the making of a planning scheme revoking, amending, or varying the existing scheme, the Minister may by order revoke such resolution save in so far as such resolution relates to an area to which the existing scheme does not relate or in which the existing scheme is not in force.

(5) The consideration and the making by a planning authority of a decision to make a planning scheme shall, in the case of the county borough of Dublin, the borough of Dun Laoghaire and of the county borough of Cork respectively, be a reserved function.

27. —(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, the making by a planning authority of a planning scheme for the whole or for any particular part of their planning region or planning district (as the case may be) shall not prevent either—

(a) the making by such planning authority of a planning scheme for any area (for which they can lawfully make a planning scheme) which wholly or partly includes or is included in the area to which such first-mentioned planning scheme relates, or

(b) the making by any other planning authority of a planning scheme for any area (for which they can lawfully make a planning scheme) which wholly or partly includes or is included in the area to which such first-mentioned planning scheme relates.

(2) Where a planning authority makes a planning scheme (in this sub-section referred to as the earlier scheme) and the same or any other planning authority subsequently makes a planning scheme (in this sub-section referred to as the later scheme) for an area which is included, wholly or partly, in the area to which the earlier scheme relates, then the later scheme shall not be inconsistent with the earlier scheme, but in order to avoid such inconsistency the later scheme or the order of the Minister approving of it may declare any specified part or provisions of the earlier scheme to be inconsistent with the later scheme and thereupon such specified part or provisions of the earlier scheme shall become and be void as from the coming into operation of the later scheme but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under the earlier scheme.

(3) For the purposes of the foregoing sub-section of this section a planning scheme shall be deemed to be made on the day of the date of the order of the Minister approving of it and the relative priorities of planning schemes shall for those purposes be determined accordingly.

28. —(1) A planning authority may at any time cause the whole or any part of their planning region or planning district (as the case may be) to be examined and surveyed and the circumstances and requirements thereof to be investigated for the purpose of deciding whether a planning scheme should or should not be made for such planning region or planning district or any part thereof and of making such planning scheme if decided upon.

(2) Any person authorised in that behalf in writing by a planning authority may, for the purpose of any examination, survey, or investigation which such planning authority is authorised by this section to cause to be made, and on production of such written authority, enter between the hours of nine o'clock in the morning and six o'clock in the afternoon on any land in the planning region or planning district (as the case may be) of such planning authority and there do any thing which such person shall reasonably consider to be necessary for the said purpose.

(3) Every person who obstructs or interferes with any other person in the exercise by such other person of any power vested in him by virtue of this section shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding five pounds.

29. —(1) When a planning authority has decided under this Act to make a planning scheme, such authority shall with all convenient speed give effect to such decision and make a planning scheme in accordance therewith and shall submit such scheme to the Minister for his approval.

(2) When a planning scheme is submitted by a planning authority to the Minister for his approval, the Minister may by order either (as he shall think proper) approve of such scheme without modification, or require such scheme to be modified by such planning authority in such manner (whether by addition, omission, or variation) as he shall specify, or require a new scheme to be made and submitted to him by such planning authority.

(3) When the Minister requires under this section a planning scheme submitted to him to be modified by a planning authority, it shall be the duty of such planning authority to modify such scheme accordingly and to re-submit such scheme as so modified to the Minister, and thereupon sub-section (2) of this section shall apply as if such scheme were then being submitted to the Minister for the first time.

(4) When the Minister requires under this section a new planning scheme to be made and submitted to him by a planning authority, it shall be the duty of such planning authority to make with all convenient speed a new planning scheme accordingly and to submit such scheme to the Minister for his approval, and thereupon sub-section (2) of this section shall apply as if such submission were the first submission of an original scheme.

(5) When a planning authority refuses or neglects to modify a planning scheme or to make and submit a new planning scheme in accordance with a requisition in that behalf made by the Minister under this section and the Minister is satisfied, after holding a public inquiry, that such refusal or neglect was unreasonable, the Minister may himself modify such planning scheme or make such new planning scheme in accordance with such requisition and by order approve of such scheme as so modified, or made, and thereupon such planning authority shall pay to the Minister on demand such sum as the Minister shall certify to be the amount of the expenses incurred by him by reason of such refusal or neglect.

(6) Whenever the Minister makes an order under this section approving of a planning scheme, the planning authority by whom such scheme was made shall cause copies of such order and of such planning scheme to be made available for public inspection at the prescribed times and places, and shall within the prescribed time cause to be published in the Iris Oifigiúil and in such other manner as shall be prescribed notice of the making of such order and of the times and places at which copies of such order and of such planning scheme are available for public inspection.

(7) Every order made by the Minister under this section approving of a planning scheme shall be laid (together with such planning scheme) before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and if a resolution annulling such order is passed by either such House within the next three weeks (omitting from the reckoning any week in which such House has not sat at all) after the week in which such order is laid before such House or notice of the making of such order is published in the Iris Oifigiúil, whichever is the later, such order shall be annulled accordingly but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

(8) Whenever an order approving of a planning scheme is annulled under the next preceding sub-section of this section, such planning scheme shall be deemed to have been re-submitted, on the day on which such annulment occurred, to the Minister in the form in which such scheme was approved by the said order, and thereupon this Part of this Act shall apply in respect of such planning scheme as if such re-submission were a submission under this section of such scheme to the Minister for his approval by the planning authority by whom such scheme was made and as if such submission were the first occasion on which such planning scheme was so submitted.

(9) The making and submission of a planning scheme under this section shall, in the case of the county borough of Dublin, of the borough of Dun Laoghaire, and of the county borough of Cork respectively, be a reserved function.

30. —(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, a planning scheme may contain a declaration that no compensation shall be payable under this Act on account of or arising from the coming into operation of a specified provision in such planning scheme which relates to a matter mentioned in Part II (except paragraph 5 thereof) or Part III (except paragraph 1 thereof) of the Second Schedule to this Act or limits the number or prescribes the sites of new roads entering on an existing or a new road or is inserted in such planning scheme for the purpose of making effective any provision so relating, limiting or prescribing as aforesaid.

(2) The Minister shall not approve of a planning scheme containing any such declaration as is authorised by the foregoing sub-section of this section unless he is satisfied—

(a) that, having regard to local circumstances, it is just and reasonable that the provision in respect of which such declaration is made should be enforced without compensation, and

(b) that the planning scheme does not preclude the payment of compensation for loss or injury arising from—

(i) being prevented by the operation of the planning scheme from maintaining a building or other structure which was in existence on the relevant date, or from continuing to use any such building or other structure for the purpose for which it was used on the relevant date, or from making reasonable alterations in and (in proper cases) reasonable additions to any such building or other structure, or

(ii) where a building or other structure which was in existence at any time within two years before the relevant date has been demolished or been destroyed by fire or otherwise, being prevented by the operation of the planning scheme from erecting, within two years after such demolition or destruction on the site of such demolished or destroyed building or other structure a new building or other structure which substantially replaces such demolished or destroyed building or other structure or from using such new building or other structure for the purpose for which such demolished or destroyed building or other structure was last used.

(3) Every dispute and question whether a new building or other structure substantially replaces within the meaning of this section a demolished or destroyed building or other structure shall be determined by the Minister, but the Minister shall not so determine that a new building substantially replaces a demolished or destroyed building unless he is satisfied that the cubic content of so much of such new building as is above ground level is at least equal to so much of such demolished or destroyed building as was above ground level and the superficial area of the ground floor of such new building is at least equal to the superficial area of the ground floor of such demolished or destroyed building.

31. —(1) Whenever the Minister has made an order approving of a planning scheme, any person whose property would be affected by such planning scheme may, within one month after the publication in the Iris Oifigiúil of notice of the making of such order, apply to the High Court for the annulment of such scheme or of any specified portion thereof and on such application—

(a) if the High Court is of opinion that the whole or substantially the whole of such planning scheme contravenes or is not authorised by or is not made in accordance with this Act, the High Court may annul such scheme, and

(b) if the High Court is of opinion that a part only of such planning scheme contravenes or is not authorised by or is not made in accordance with this Act, the High Court may either, as shall appear to the High Court to be most convenient to all parties, annul the said part of such planning scheme or annul the whole of such planning scheme.

(2) The annulment of part of a planning scheme by the High Court under this section shall not prevent the subsequent revocation by the Minister of the order approving of such planning scheme.

(3) Where the whole of a planning scheme is annulled by the High Court under this section, this Part of this Act shall apply and have effect in respect of such planning scheme as if the Minister had, on the day on which such planning scheme is so annulled, made an order requiring the planning authority by whom such planning scheme was made to make and submit to him a new planning scheme.

(4) The Minister shall be entitled to appear, be heard, and adduce evidence at the hearing of an application under this section, and whenever the Minister so appears on any such application the costs and expenses incurred by him of and incidental to such application shall, when taxed and ascertained, be paid by the planning authority by whom the planning scheme which is the subject of such application was made, save if and in so far as such costs and expenses are ordered by the High Court to be paid by and are recovered from any other person.

(5) On an application under this section, the High Court may order the costs and expenses of or incidental to such application incurred by any party (including the applicant and the Minister) who appears at the hearing of such application to be paid by any other such party (including as aforesaid).

(6) Where the High Court is of opinion that an application under this section is frivolous or vexatious, the High Court may order the person making such application to pay to the planning authority by whom the planning scheme the subject of such application was made such sum by way of damages (over and above any costs and expenses awarded under the next foregoing sub-section of this section) on account of loss, delay, inconvenience, or other injury occasioned by such application as the High Court shall fix.

32. —(1) Whenever the Minister has made an order approving of a planning scheme, the Minister may, unless such order has been annulled by a resolution passed by either House of the Oireachtas or the whole of such planning scheme has been annulled by the High Court, make at his discretion an order appointing the day on which such planning scheme or so much thereof as has not been annulled by the High Court shall come into operation.

(2) When the Minister has made an order under this section appointing the day on which a planning scheme shall come into operation, such planning scheme (except such part, if any, thereof as shall have been annulled by the High Court) shall come into operation on and have statutory force and effect as on and from the day so appointed.

33. —(1) Whenever the Minister has made an order approving of a planning scheme, he may, at any time before such scheme comes into operation but not after such order has been annulled by a resolution of either House of the Oireachtas or such scheme has been wholly annulled by the High Court, by order revoke his said order approving of such planning scheme.

(2) When an order approving of a planning scheme is revoked under this section, such planning scheme shall be deemed to have been submitted on the day of the date of such revocation order to the Minister for his approval by the planning authority by whom such scheme was made and in the form in which it was approved by the said order so revoked, and thereupon this Part of this Act shall apply in respect of such scheme as if such submission were the first occasion on which such scheme was submitted to the Minister under this Part of this Act.

34. —A planning scheme which has been approved of by order of the Minister may at any time after it has come into operation, be revoked in whole or in part, or amended or varied by a planning scheme subsequently made by the planning authority by whom such first-mentioned scheme was made and duly approved of and brought into operation under this Act.

35. —(1) A responsible authority under a planning scheme may at any time apply to the planning authority by whom such planning scheme was made for the revocation or modification of such planning scheme on all or any of the following grounds, that is to say:—

(a) on account of the amount of the compensation which has been or is likely to be awarded under this Act or otherwise in respect of provisions contained in such planning scheme;

(b) on account of practical difficulties in the execution or enforcement of such planning scheme;

(c) on account of events which have occurred since the making of such planning scheme.

(2) Whenever an application under the foregoing sub-section of this section is received by a planning authority, the chief executive officer of such planning authority shall forthwith give to each member of such planning authority and publish the like notices of such application as are required by this Act to be given and published of the intention to propose a resolution for the making of a planning scheme.

(3) A planning authority to whom an application is made under this section shall after notice has been given and published in accordance with the next preceding sub-section of this section consider such application and may, as they shall think proper, either—

(a) decide to revoke such planning scheme by a revoking planning scheme and pass a resolution for the making of such revoking planning scheme accordingly, or

(b) decide to modify such planning scheme by an amending planning scheme and pass a resolution for the making of such amending planning scheme accordingly, or

(c) refuse such application.

(4) Whenever a planning authority decides under this section to make a revoking or amending planning scheme, the provisions of this Part of this Act shall apply in respect of such revoking or amending planning scheme in like manner as they apply to the planning schemes mentioned in the said Part.

(5) The provisions of this Part of this Act in relation to the passing of resolutions for the making of a planning scheme and to such resolutions when passed shall apply in respect of a resolution under consideration by or passed by a planning authority under this section for the making of a revoking or amending planning scheme as if the notice required by this section to be given and published by the chief executive officer of such planning authority were a notice of intention to propose a resolution in the terms of such application.

(6) Whenever a responsible authority has made an application under this section to a planning authority and such planning authority fails to consider and deal finally with such application within three months after the making of such application, such planning authority shall be deemed to have refused such application and, for the purpose of computing any period of time, such refusal shall be deemed to have been made on the last day of the said period of three months.

(7) The making of an application under sub-section (1) of this section and also the consideration of and dealing with an application under the said sub-section (1) shall, in the case of the county borough of Dublin, of the borough of Dun Laoghaire, and of the county borough of Cork, be reserved functions.

36. —(1) Where a responsible authority has made an application under this Part of this Act to a planning authority for the revocation or modification of a planning scheme and is aggrieved by the action of such planning authority in respect of such application, such responsible authority may, within one month after such planning authority has finally dealt with or is deemed to have refused such application, appeal to the Minister and thereupon the Minister may, as he shall think proper, either confirm the action of such planning authority or require such planning authority to make a revoking or amending planning scheme.

(2) Where the Minister, on an appeal under this section, requires a planning authority to make a revoking or amending planning scheme, it shall be the duty of such planning authority to make and submit to the Minister for his approval such revoking or amending planning scheme accordingly.

(3) When a planning authority refuses or neglects to make a revoking or amending planning scheme in accordance with a requisition in that behalf made by the Minister under this section, the Minister may himself make such revoking or amending planning scheme and by order approve of such scheme as so made, and thereupon such planning authority shall pay to the Minister on demand such sum as the Minister shall certify to be the amount of the expenses incurred by him by reason of such refusal or neglect.

(4) The institution of an appeal to the Minister under this section and also the making of a revoking or amending planning scheme in pursuance of this section shall, in the case of the county borough of Dublin, of the borough of Dun Laoghaire, and of the county borough of Cork, be reserved functions.