Full Council: May 2025

The following was raised for discussion at the May meeting of the Full Kildare County Council on Monday 26/05/2025

Motion: Councillors Fintan Brett, Paul Ward, Brendan Wyse, Tim Durkan, Daragh Fitzpatrick, William Durkan and Kevin Duffy

That the council commits to bi-monthly in person meetings to address and work through Unauthorised Developments with members.

Report: The Executive notes the request from the elected members for a commitment to a bi-monthly in person meeting to address and work through unauthorised developments in the County.

In this regard the growing concerns of the members relating to a significant increase in alleged unauthorised developments throughout the County are shared by the Executive who have initiated a number of processes and procedural improvements with the aim of addressing these concerns, including the development of new IT systems, triaging enforcement cases as received and careful allocation of complaints by matching the complexity and severity of the case in question with the experience and expertise of enforcement team. Indeed, we have also recently supplemented the Planning Enforcement Team in Kildare County Council which now totals 9 full-time staff.

For context, the Planning Enforcement Section carries out its enforcement functions in accordance with the provisions of Part VIII of The Planning and Development Act 2000 as amended. Such provisions are an Executive function of the Local Authority with Schedule 15 section 151 setting out details in regard to the functions to be carried out by a Managers Order including ‘a decision to take legal proceedings’.

The timeframes involved in the enforcement process are set out as follows:

In addition to the above, the members will be aware that Alleged Offenders are provided with 6 months to remedy the unauthorised situation after which recurse to the courts is sought as soon as practicably possible.

Notwithstanding the above referenced improvements, an additional objective of the Planning Enforcement Team is to establish a multi-disciplinary approach, with relevant state agencies, where a shared and collective aim will be to address specific cases of alleged unauthorised development and serial offenders. Such an approach is in the early stages of development with initial engagements providing a positive basis for dealing with specific cases currently in the system.
Following on from the above, recent process improvements and measures are also being currently assessed for their potential to inform and supplement the level of information provided to the members through the monthly CE Reports. Such information and statistics may include details in regard to New Consultations/Cases, the number of cases closed, enforcement notices served, warning letters served, and cases referred to solicitors for review and legal proceedings.

Noting the above and the significant workload of the Planning Team, the members will recall the Planning Functions Briefing for full council that was held in early 2025 whichoutlined the processes and procedures involved in all aspects of the planning function including enforcement process as well as a number of case examples and timelines.

This initial briefing was a resounding success and as such, and in light of this motion, the Planning Department are agreeable to engage with the members through a further briefing. It should be noted however that while specifics relating to alleged unauthorised development files cannot be discussed, updates in regard to the status of active cases from a broad perspective can be provided.

Note: Based on discussions in relation to this motion, it is expected that the executive will meet with Councillors in the coming month(s) to further discuss approaches to this topic.