147 / 264
GAZETTE
JULY
An Bord Pleanala took over from the Minister for
Local Government nearly all of the latter's appellate
functions on 15th March 1977, including any undecided
cases before the Minister on that date but not the
Minister's functions under Section 86 of the 1963 Act
(not yet in force).
Mr. Woulfe, by dealing with each Section of the Act
seriatim, has afforded the practitioner a great deal of
assistance as a perusal of a requisite section followed by a
quick reference to the appropriate part of the available
script would suffice for most of what one might care to
call the ordinary practical needs. It is not always easy for
a lecturer to deliver the form of lecture which he may
desire within the limited time available and he is therefore
frequently left with the unenviable task of trying to
confine his subject so that the more salient points are
revealed. It was undoubtedly Mr. Woulfe's intention to give
a broad general outline of the 1976 Act and this he
accomplished in a most admirable and competent fashion.
We are indebted to him for his contribution.
Limerick Corporation
City Solicitor's Office,
Old Courthouse,
Merchant's Quay, Limerick.
18 May, 1977.
Dear Sir,
In the question—and—answer session after my Lecture
on. the Local Government (Planning and Development)
Act 1976 delivered at the Society's Seminar in Tralee on
24th April, 1977,1 gave an off-the-cuff opinion that where
outline planning permission had been granted and had
been followed by an approval the five year period for the
wasting or withering of the permission commenced to run
from the date of the Approval. I now wish to correct that
opinion, as, on reflection, I do not think that it is correct.
The word "permission" is not defined in the Local
Government (Planning and Development) Act 1963 or in
the 1976 Act. For the purposes of Part IV of the Local
Government (Planning and Development) Regulations
1977 (S.I. Number 65 of 1977) "outline permission" is
defined as a permission for development subject to the sub-
sequent approval of the Planning Authority, "permission"
includes outline permission and "Approval" is stated to
mean an Approval consequent on an outline permission
or an Approval which is required to be obtained under a
condition subject to which a permission or an approval is
granted under the Acts.
There are, therefore, two categories of planning
permissions, namely, full permissions which are complete
in themselves and outline permissions which require to
have attached to them a subsequent Approval in relation
to reserved matters. There can be no development without
a permission and an Approval cannot enjoy
an
independent existence because it is no more than an
appendage to a permission and not a permission in itself.
TTiis assessment of the legal position is re-enforced by
Section 30 of the 1963 Act which Section provides for
the revocation of permission; it does not authorise the
revocation of an approval on the basis that if the outline
permission to which it is attached stands revoked the
approval falls with it: see
The State (Cogley)
v.
Dublin
Corporation
- (1970) I.R. 244. Section 29 of the 1976
Act provides that a planning permission will expire five
years from the 1st November, 1976 or from the date of
112
the granting of the permission, whichever is the later. In
respect of planning permissions issued after the 1st
November, 1976, the five years commences to run from
the date of the full unitary planning permission or, in
other cases, from the date of the granting of the outline
permission. An Approval has no relevance in relation to
this time scale and it follows that a person who obtains
outline permission only and who, thus, may not
commence development until that outline permission has
been followed by an Approval from the Planning
Authority may actually lose — through lapse of time — his
right to carry out the development before ever acquiring
that right. The contradiction is explained in that such an
applicant never had more than a contingent right to effect
a development and his failure to obtain an Approval and
carry out the development within five years from the date
of the outline permission means that a contingent right
never blossomed into a full right.
I might mention that on the sixth line of page two of
my Lecture the No. of the Commencement Order is
correctly stated as being number 56 of 1977. S.I. Number
65 of 1977 refers to the Regulations.
May I ask your assistance in bringing these corrections
to the notice of participants at the Seminar.
#
Yours sincerely,
RICHARD WOULFE, City Solicitor.
AUTUMN SEMINAR
The Committee has decided to explore new ground for the
Autumn Seminar. As we have gravitated towards the
south for most of our recent Seminars we have now
decided to go north and it is proposed that the next
Seminar be held in Bundoran, County Donegal, on the
weekend of 14th/16th October 1977 on the following
topics:—
1. The handling of Road Traffic Accident Claims.
2. Offences under the Road Traffic Acts.
3. Assessment of Actuarial Damages under the Civil
Liability Act.
4. Professional Negligence.
Full details of the Seminar will be issued as soon as
arrangements have been finalised.
COMMITTEE OF THE SOCIETY
OF YOUNG SOLICITORS
The Officers and Committee of the Society of Young
Solicitors for the year 1977/1978 are as follows:—
Chairman
Clare Cusack
Treasurer
William Earley
Secretary
Aine Hanley
Committee
Maeve Breen, Michael W. Carrigan, Terence Dixon,
Andrew Donnelly, Mary Finlay, John Glackin, Derek
Greenlee, Michael Irvine, John Lynch, George Mills,
Tom O'Connor, Thomas E. O'Donnell, Raymond
O'Neill, Norman T. J. Spendlove.