Flexibility Meetings | Wexford County Council

The Planning and Development, Maritime and Valuation (Amendment) Act 2022 (the Act of 2022), passed by the Oireachtas in July 2022, includes amendments to the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, (the Principal Act) concerning flexibility in respect of some of the details of the proposed development to be submitted as part of certain planning applications.

The primary legislation provides for a process whereby a prospective applicant/project promoter who wishes to avail of a degree of flexibility in their planning application may, in advance of submitting their planning application, request a meeting with the planning authority or the Board for the purpose of receiving an opinion as to whether it is appropriate than an application for permission be made before certain details of the proposed development are confirmed. Such unconfirmed details may, for example in the case of a wind far application, include the precise height or blade length of a wind turbine or the precise grid connection point and route.

This process is intended to apply to certain details of a proposed development and is not intended to apply to points of detail generally dealt with by way of compliance condition and agreed between the applicant and the planning authority or the Board post-consent.

As part of the flexibility meeting request, the prospective applicant must set out the details, or groups of details, that will not be confirmed at the time of the proposed application for permission and the circumstances why it would be appropriate for the proposed application to be made and decided before said details are confirmed.

Separate pre-application consultations may take place in respect of the proposed application using existing pre-application arrangements. Such consultations, which may take place in advance of requesting a flexible meeting request, may concern the scope of details not likely to be confirmed by the prospective applicant at application stage and likely to be subject to a request for an opinion on unconfirmed details.

Where it is satisfied that appropriate circumstances exist, the planning authority or the Board will issue an opinion in this regard, setting out the details that may be confirmed by the prospective applicant at a later stage and the circumstances considered appropriate to allow an application to proceed on this basis.

A planning application accompanied by such an opinion must include specific options or sufficient information in respect of the parameters within which the unconfirmed detail will fall as is considered necessary to enable the planning authority or the Board to make a decision on the application.

When granting permission in respect of such a planning application, the planning authority or the Board must attach a condition setting out the approved options and/or parameters in respect of the unconfirmed details and requiring the applicant to confirm the actual detail of the development to which the condition relates prior to the commencement of this part of the development.

These provisions apply to both terrestrial and nearshore planning applications submitted to planning authorities under Section 34 of the Principal Act as well as strategic infrastructure applications for permission and approval and maritime planning applications submitted to the Board.

If you are considering applying for a 'Flexibility Meeting' in relation to items set out above, it is recommended that you first seek a standard Section 247 Pre-Planning Consultation meeting to discuss whether flexibility provisions may apply to your proposed development.