Judicial review procedure under the planning and development act, 2000

• Author: Garrett Simons
• Position: LL.B., B.L.
• Pages: 125-152

JUDICIAL REVIEW PROCEDURE

UNDER THE

PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT ACT, 2000

GARRETT SIMONS*

I. INTRODUCTION

Section 50 of the Planning and Development Act,

2000 stipulates a special judicial review procedure for

specified decisions of planning authorities and of An Bord

Pleanála.1 Restrictions on challenges to certain decisions of

planning authorities and of An Bord Pleanála had first been

introduced under the Local Government (Planning and

Development) Act, 1976, but were considerably tightened

under the Local Government (Planning and Development)

Act, 1992, which inserted sections 82(3A) and (3B) into the

Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963.

The special judicial review procedure has been modified in a

number of respects under section 50 of the Planning and

Development Act, 2000; the key amendments are as follows.

First, the range of decisions subject to the special judicial

review procedure has been expanded. Secondly, the locus

standi or standing requirement has been put on a statutory

footing and the standard has been ratcheted from one of

‘sufficient interest’, to ‘substantial interest’. There is also a

requirement that an applicant have previously participated in

the statutory planning process. Thirdly, the time limit has

2001] Judicial Review Procedure 125

1 Section 50 is fully commenced as and from the 11th March, 2002. It

would appear from the transitional provisions under the Planning and

Development Act, 2000, and from Article 207 of the Planning and

Development Regulations, 2001, that the procedure under section 50 will

only apply to decisions in respect of the which the (initial) application for

planning permission was made subsequent to the 11th March, 2002.

* LL.B., B.L. This article is based on material from a forthcoming

publication on the Planning and Development Act, 2000 and the

copyright in this article is retained by the author.

been changed from two months to eight weeks, and a power

to extend the period has now been introduced. Fourthly,

provision has also been made whereby judicial review

proceedings challenging the decision of a planning authority

might be stayed in preference to a statutory appeal to An

Bord Pleanála.

It is proposed to examine each of these changes in

further detail, in turn.

II. DECISIONS PROTECTED

A. General

In the case of a planning authority, the special judicial

review procedure applies to two types of decision. First, a

decision on an application for planning permission under Part

III of the Act. This category would include a decision on an

application for approval (properly, a subsequent planning

permission) pursuant to an outline planning permission. (It

should be noted that the duration of the planning permission

is expressly encompassed as forming part of the decision on

the application for planning permission.)2 The second type of

decision is that of the local authority as to whether or not to

proceed with proposed local authority development under

section 179. Local authority development in its own

functional area is exempted development but certain

prescribed development is subject to a form of public

consultation procedure.

In the case of An Bord Pleanála, a wider range of

decisions is protected by the special judicial review

procedure. Specifically, three types of decision are covered.

First, a decision on any appeal or referral. This category

includes not only decisions on an appeal from a decision by a

planning authority on an application for planning permission

but any appeal. This produces the anomalous result that

section 50 applies to some decisions of An Bord Pleanála in

circumstances where the equivalent decision of the planning

126 Judicial Studies Institute Journal [2:1

2 Section 41.