The Office of the Ombudsman is currently seeking an explanation from Cork City Council in relation to a supposed breach of public rights under the Planning and Development Act.

The complaint, registered by members of the Communities for Sustainable Development, arose when it's spokesperson and Green Party member Mick Murphy attended the planning office of Cork City Council in June 2008 to view the minutes of a pre-planning meeting that took place in December 2007.

The minutes of said meeting however were missing from the planning file in question. In a letter to the Ombudsman, the CSD suggested that since the pre planning meeting did not form part of the planning file as required under Section 247 of the Planning Act that the file should be declared an invalid file and it should be removed from the planning system.

The complaint is the latest to be directed at the Cork City Planning Department, following numerous pleas by CSD, dating back to April 2006, to intervene in the manner that Cork City Council treats the public with regard to their rights under the Planning and Development Act.

In his letter to the Ombudsman, Mick Murphy stated, "We would respectfully ask if your office has some sort of Government approved 30 year non disclosure rule in dealing with complaints from CSD, as since our initial complaint to you on April 18, 2006 we have had; a change in the Director of Planning in Cork, a change of Minister for the Environment, and a change of Government, yet no formal decision from your office regarding our many complaints".

A letter sent on behalf of the Ombudsman to Mr Murphy in reply to the latest complaint, stated, "This Office sought and received a report from the Council in relation to the matter. The current position is that this Office was not satisfied with the Council's report, and has sought further information/explanations from the Council". The Office of the Ombudsman says that on receipt of this information, a decision will be made, with possible action to be taken depending on the outcome.

Comments (0) »

Show/Hide comment form

Name

Email

Title

Comment

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment