Sunday 3 December 2006

Christmas and New Year Closing at An Bord Pleanala

It's that time of year again. Check.ed this for myself; may be useful to others

Christmas and New Year Closing
The Offices of the Board will be closed from 5.30 p.m. on
22nd December 2006 to 9.15 a.m. on 28th December 2006
and on 1st January 2007.

How the Christmas/New Year period affects the lodging of appeals and other matters with which the Board is concerned.

1.Normal Planning Appeals and other matters under the 2000 to 2006 Planning Acts
Holiday Period Rule
The period from 24th December to 1st January (both dates inclusive), referred to as the ‘holiday period’, is excluded for the purposes of calculating time limits as regards the functions of the Board under the 2000 to 2006 Planning Acts and their Regulations. Therefore, where the holiday period wholly or partly falls within a period of time where an appeal, referral, submission, observation, document, or other information/matter may or should be received by the Board, the time limit will be extended by up to nine days beyond the holiday period.

Weekend Rule
In addition to the above, where the last day for making an appeal, referral, submission or observation or for submitting a document or other information to the Board falls on a Saturday, Sunday, public holiday or other day on which the Board’s offices are closed, the appeal or other matter will be regarded as valid if it is received on the next day the offices of the Board are open.

Note that the ‘holiday period’ rule is applied, where appropriate, before the ‘weekend rule’. See examples 1 and 2.

The following are practical examples of how the above rules will impact over the Christmas and New Year period. (The Board’s website www.pleanala.ie has an interactive ‘last day to appeal’ ready reckoner which may be used to calculate the last day to appeal for any period in the year).

Example 1
If a planning authority decision on a planning application is made on 27th November 2006, the last day of the four week period for making an appeal to the Board would, without the holiday period rule, fall on 24th December 2006. However, as this includes one day of the holiday period, the last day for making the appeal to the Board is extended by one day beyond the holiday period i.e. to 2nd January 2007. (Note that although the 24th December falls on a weekend, the ‘weekend’ rule does not apply as the ‘holiday period’ rule overrides it).

Example 2
If a planning authority decision on a planning application is made on 8th December 2006, the last day of the four week period for making an appeal to the Board would, without the holiday period rule, fall on 4th January 2007. However, as this includes all nine days of the holiday period, the last day for making the appeal to the Board is extended by nine days beyond the holiday period i.e. to 13th January 2007. However, as this is a Saturday, the appeal or other matter will be regarded as valid if it is received on the next day the offices of the Board are open, i.e. on 15th January 2007. (Note that both the holiday period and weekend rules apply in this case).

Example 3
If a planning appeal is received in the Board on 1st December 2006, the last day of the four week period for making submissions or observations to the Board by an observer in relation to the appeal would, without the holiday rule, fall on the 28th December 2006. However, as this includes six days of the holiday period, the last day for making submissions or observations to the Board is extended to 8th January 2007.

2. Appeals under the Water Pollution Acts and the Building Control Act.
Where the last day for receipt by the Board of an appeal, submission, observation, document or other information which is subject to a time limit falls on a day the offices of the Board are closed, the appeal or other matter will be regarded as valid if received on the next day the offices of the Board are open. Therefore, if the last day of the appropriate period falls on 27th December 2006, the last day for lodging the appeal is 28th December 2006. (Note that while the ‘weekend rule’ applies to both the Water Pollution and Building Control Acts, the ‘holiday period rule’ does not apply).

3. Appeals under the Air Pollution Act
There are no special provisions relating to the holiday period, weekends or other days on which the offices of the Board are closed under the Air Pollution Act. Therefore, if the last day of the appropriate period for making an appeal falls on 27th December 2006, the appeal must be received by 24th December 2006.

4. Appeals and other matters under the 1963 to 1999 Planning Acts
Where the last day for receipt by the Board of an appeal, submission, observation, document or other information under the 1963 to 1999 Planning Acts, which is subject to a time limit, falls on a day the offices of the Board are closed, the appeal or other matter will be regarded as valid if it is received on the next day the offices of the Board are open. Therefore, if the last day of the appropriate period falls on 24th December 2006, the last day for lodging the appeal is 28th December 2006. (Note that while the ‘weekend rule’ applies to appeals and certain other matters under the 1963 to 1999 Planning Acts, the ‘holiday period rule’ does not apply).

(Appeals under the 1963 to 1999 Planning Acts relate to cases where the application for planning permission was made to the local planning authority before 11th March 2002. Some of these cases could still be subject to an appeal to the Board e.g. an appeal against a decision on an application for approval consequent on an outline permission granted under those Acts).

5. Statutory Objective Period for Determining Cases
In any appeal or other case to which a statutory time objective applies to the Board to determine the case, the following provisions will apply.

• If the case comes within the provisions of the 2000 to 2006 Planning Acts, the holiday period will be excluded from the statutory objective period of 18 weeks. Therefore, the statutory objective period will be extended by up to nine days for any case which is on hands in the Board during the holiday period. For example, a statutory objective period of before 16th February 2007 would apply to an appeal which was lodged on 4th October 2006.

• If the case comes within the provisions of the 1963 to 1999 Planning Acts, the Water Pollution Acts or the Building Control Act, the statutory objective period of 4 months will continue to apply regardless of the holiday period.

Planning and Development Acts 2000 to 2006
Last Day for receipt of Appeals (and Referrals) having regard to the Christmas/New Year ‘holiday period’
24th December 2006 to 1st January 2007.

Date of Planning Authority Decision Last Day to Appeal
Column 1 Column 2

Monday 20th November 2006 Monday 18th December 2006
Tuesday 21st November 2006 Monday 18th December 2006
Wednesday 22nd November 2006 Tuesday 19th December 2006
Thursday 23rd November 2006 Wednesday 20th December 2006
Friday 24th November 2006 Thursday 21st December 2006

Monday 27th November 2006 Tuesday 2nd January 2007
Tuesday 28th November 2006 Wednesday 3rd January 2007
Wednesday 29th November 2006 Thursday 4th January 2007
Thursday 30th November 2006 Friday 5th January 2007
Friday 1st December 2006 Monday 8th January 2007

Monday 4th December 2006 Tuesday 9th January 2007
Tuesday 5th December 2006 Wednesday 10th January 2007
Wednesday 6th December 2006 Thursday 11th January 2007
Thursday 7th December 2006 Friday 12th January 2007
Friday 8th December 2006 Monday 15th January 2007

Monday 11th December 2006 Tuesday 16th January 2007
Tuesday 12th December 2006 Wednesday 17th January 2007
Wednesday 13th December 2006 Thursday 18th January 2007
Thursday 14th December 2006 Friday 19th January 2007
Friday 15th December 2006 Monday 22nd January 2007

Monday 18th December 2006 Tuesday 23rd January 2007
Tuesday 19th December 2006 Wednesday 24th January 2007
Wednesday 20th December 2006 Thursday 25th January 2007
Thursday 21st December 2006 Friday 26th January 2007
Friday 22nd December 2006 Monday 29th January 2007

Tuesday 27th December 2006 Monday 29th January 2007
Wednesday 28th December 2006 Monday 29th January 2007
Thursday 29th December 2006 Monday 29th January 2007

Tuesday 2nd January 2007 Monday 29th January 2007
Wednesday 3rd January 2007 Tuesday 30th January 2007
Thursday 4th January 2007 Wednesday 31st January 2007

The table above may also be used to calculate the last day for receipt of submissions or observations by ‘observers’ under section 130 of the 2000 Act. Read column 1 as the date of receipt of the appeal (or last appeal) and column 2 as the last date for receipt of the submissions or observations. Note, however, that the offices of the Board are closed on 27th December 2006.

24th November 2006

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