Rise in false planning objections in Mayo
The planning section of Mayo County Council has seen a rise in false complaints, with people using fake names and addresses.
Providing an update on planning enforcement procedures at the February meeting of the council, Director of Services for Planning Catherine McConnell said the local authority has "a statutory obligation to investigate written complaints on alleged planning breaches and to take enforcement action".
"However, only the courts have the power to enforce ultimately. Also, there is a seven-year limitation if something is operating without planning. That does not make it legal, but we can’t do anything about it after that term.
“Over the last number of years, the number of complaints and queries have generated an amount of work for the planning section and there have also been interactions with the Office of the Planning Regulator, the Office of the Ombudsman and Freedom of Information requests have become much more frequent as well as enforcement history searches. So, it is a very legislative-driven process, and we have to look at everything. We cannot get involved in civil disputes unless planning is part of it. It is critical we follow the process as it can lead to judicial reviews.”
Ms McConnell continued: “Our approach has always been to try and resolve matters before going down a legislative road and we have had good success with that. We contact the developers and issue warning letters where breaches occur, followed by No Compliance notices and a direction to carry out the works by a certain date. In relation to planning applications for unauthorised development, we have to decide do we put resources into the legal route as then it is a criminal proceeding which is a very serious matter for someone to have on their record."
The Director of Services said the council was looking to resolve "quite a number of legacy files built up over ten years".
“A lot of complaints, we may close these down on the basis they are small. This may not be perfect, but it is not worth the time and expense, for instance, where there is no impact on the general public, such as a complaint that a chimney is not facing a certain way.
With nearly 1,300 files on hand, the council is working with its legal team on 24 planning enforcements, including three court cases.
“This shows we do take some of our cases all the way through and we will be accelerating that. Every time we take court proceedings it costs a minimum of €10,000 to €15,000 per case.”
Cllr Damien Ryan said objectors should be asked to provide some proof of evidence, such as a PPS number, while Cllr Neil Cruise added: “Some of the objections are very vexatious and this was the case especially during Covid, with people at home saying, 'I wonder should that person have a window in there'. I know a woman whose name was falsely used to lodge an objection to a house being built, even though she lived miles away from it.”
- Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.
