COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, November 09, 2020

QUESTION NO. 2

QUESTION: Councillor Carly Bailey

To ask the Chief Executive for information on what is envisaged and timelines in relation to the delivery of an ePlanning system in line with national timescales and provision of a new planning portal as per the SDCC Service Delivery Plan 2020. Is it the intention to enable the public and bodies to interact more easily and conveniently with planning, and also to greatly increase the speed and efficiency of the entire planning process and would the Chief Executive care to make a statement on the matter?

REPLY:

One of the actions in the Annual Service Delivery Plan 2020 for LUPT is to support the delivery of ePlanning in line with national timescales and provide a new planning portal.

The E-Planning project is being managed by the LGMA with funding from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. An ePlanning Project Board is in place with a Chair nominated by the CCMA LUTS Committee. Delivery of the ePlanning project has been included as an objective in a number of Government policy documents and strategies such as Rebuilding Ireland, Our Public Service 2020 (the framework for development and innovation in Ireland’s public service)and the National Broadband Strategy.

The project began in late 2016 and has proven to be very complex, having to employ three system providers that take account of a complex planning code and the required integration of the developed system with 3 back-end planning systems and 8 document management systems across 31 planning authorities.

To date a first phase of user interface testing has been successfully delivered. Subject to the required funding phase 2 of the project is targeted to be delivered by 2022. This would provide for a phased roll out, on a national basis, of the ability to make a planning application online and thereafter, to roll out functionality to enable online submissions and finally, to roll out Part 8 functionality.