Planning Permission
if you find yourself in the position of needing planning permission for your new business, do not despair. Kerry County Council Planning department has done much work to make the planning system much more streamlined. The Council is
very keen to encourage newbusiness; even more so in the current economic climate.
There are three types of planning permission: outline permission, (full) permission, and permission consequent on outline permission.
If you want to see if the planning authority agrees in principle to you building on a particular site, or building a large extension, youmight apply for outline permission, which will require you to produce only the plans and particulars that are necessary to enable the planning authority tomake a decision in relation to the siting, layout or other proposals for development.
If you get outline permission, you will have to submit detailed drawings and receive consequent permission before you start building work.Generally, outline permissions have a -year duration.
Full planning permission will require you to provide all of the details above, plus technical details relating to the fabric of the building and the type of construction to be employed.
If the local authority decides to give you planning permission, you will get a notice of intention to grant planning permission. If no one appeals the decision to An Bord Pleanála within four weeks of the date of this decision, you will get grant of permission from the local authority.
Generally, the local planning authority must make a decision on a planning application within eight weeks of receiving the application, but if the local authority needs more information, or the decision is appealed, it may take much longer.
It is an offence to carry out any work that requires planning permission, without planning permission, and the offence can carry very heavy fines and imprisonment. However, if a genuine mistake has been made, it is possible to apply for planning permission to retain an unauthorised development. This permission may be refused, in which case, the unauthorised development will have to be demolished.
Further Information
You apply for planning permission by filling in a planning application form and submitting it, togetherwith required documents and fees, to:
Kerry County Council, planning Department,
County Buildings, Tralee, Co. Kerry.
Tel. 066 7183582
Email: plann@kerrycoco.ie
www.kerrycoco.ie/en/allservices/planning/
If you are employing an architect, he/she will normally make the application on your behalf.
The Planning department will be pleased to give you advice about how to apply, whether your proposals are likely to comply with the development plan, what other documents you will need, what the fee will be and any other requirements. It is a good idea to talk to the Council before you make an application. this may save you long delays later on.
In general, you will need to submit the following documents with your application -
- a location map (6 copies)
- site or layout plan (6 copies)
- other plans, elevations and sections (6 copies)
- copies of public notices (newspaper and site)
- a plan showing the position of a site notice or notices
- the appropriate fee
Generally, in addition to planning permission, commercial development requires a fire safety certificate, and full compliance with the Building regulations. The department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government publishes a series of leaflets on all aspects of the planning system and these are available free of charge from the department or from planning authorities. They cover a whole range of issues including how to make a planning application, lodge an appeal, requirements for change of use, building extensions, in a word everything you need to know but didn’t know who to ask. These leaflets can be obtained from:
The Department of the Environment,
Heritage and Local Government, CustomHouse, Dublin 1.
Tel. 1890 202021.
They can also be downloaded from www.environ.ie