DIN L-ART HELWA COMMENTS SENT TO THE PLANNING AUTHORITY:

The Planning Authority Talking point dated 06.05.2016 informed the public that

The scope of these regulations is to introduce the procedures and parameters by which development which are not covered by development permission may be regularised. The Regulations also specify the submission requirements which an application under these Regulations need to fulfil, including a regime of new fees to be charged.

Din l-Art Helwa (DLH) has reviewed the draft regulations and has a number of concerns regarding issues which are either not defined in the draft regulations, or unclear. These are listed below:

  1. The regulations refer to existing buildings within scheme including UCA. The extent of regularisation that can be considered on a single building is not clear. DLH would like to question what illegalities can be sanctioned through these regulations, additional volumes, sizes of yards, a whole buildings? The draft regulations do not mention whether the development must comply to the current planning policies, sanitary regulations or otherwise. They seem to include all works carried out to date. DLH would like to question why there is the need of this regularisation when sanctioning can take place through a full application, and how is the process different to the normal sanctioning? Does it mean that anything can be sanctioned if it is in a DVZ area? This would seem rather unfair to the many rectifications people have needed to carry out when selling or purchasing buildings in order to ensure that buildings are in line with the design guidelines. Can an applicant still apply to sanction variations from an approved permit if this building appears on 2016 aerial photography?
  • These applications will be possible for a two-year window from when they come into force – DLH would like to question the rationale behind a two-year window? Would this then be extended for another two years when the first two are over?

19th May 2016