Co Co change conditions after final grant of Planning

lialwarrior

I recently received notification of final grant for planning permission for a 2 storey house with a septic tank from my local county council.

They original schedule of conditions listed the various conditions as normal, however one of the conditions related to expenditure that was and/or that is proposed to be incurred by the Planning Authority in the provision, refurbishment, upgrading, enlargement or replacement of waste water treatment facilities, waste water and surface water sewer network, drains and associated infrastructure by the Council benefiting development in the area of the Authority etc...

Reason: The provision of such sanitary services in the area by the Council will facilitate the proposed development. It is considered reasonable that the developer should contribute towards the cost of providing the services.

My issue is that the site is in the middle of the country, in off the public road by about .5 of a mile and I am installing a septic tank and therefore the site will not be facilitated by the provision of such sanitary services.

The council have now sent out an updated schedule of conditions which removes the above condition and replaces it with a new one, but with the same cost of €6,797. They apologised and stated that it was a typographical error and that my file has been amended and updated.

Are they allowed do this, after the file had be effectively closed?

Admins, apologies if this question is in breach of the rule seeking legal advice, but I don't believe it does.

sydthebeat

lialwarrior wrote: »

I recently received notification of final grant for planning permission for a 2 storey house with a septic tank from my local county council.

They original schedule of conditions listed the various conditions as normal, however one of the conditions related to expenditure that was and/or that is proposed to be incurred by the Planning Authority in the provision, refurbishment, upgrading, enlargement or replacement of waste water treatment facilities, waste water and surface water sewer network, drains and associated infrastructure by the Council benefiting development in the area of the Authority etc...

Reason: The provision of such sanitary services in the area by the Council will facilitate the proposed development. It is considered reasonable that the developer should contribute towards the cost of providing the services.

My issue is that the site is in the middle of the country, in off the public road by about .5 of a mile and I am installing a septic tank and therefore the site will not be facilitated by the provision of such sanitary services.

The council have now sent out an updated schedule of conditions which removes the above condition and replaces it with a new one, but with the same cost of €6,797. They apologised and stated that it was a typographical error and that my file has been amended and updated.

Are they allowed do this, after the file had be effectively closed?

Admins, apologies if this question is in breach of the rule seeking legal advice, but I don't believe it does.

if the same chagre is still there, what have they said it is for?

lialwarrior

Hi Syd,

They have actually changed 2 conditions.

The 2 original conditions...

• The developer / applicant shall pay the sum of €6,797 to the Planning Authority as a contribution towards expenditure that was and/or that is proposed to be incurred by the Planning Authority in the provision, refurbishment, upgrading, enlargement or replacement of waste water treatment facilities, waste water and surface water sewer network, drains and associated infrastructure by the Council benefiting development in the area of the Authority...

• The developer / applicant shall pay the sum of €3,555 to the Planning Authority as a contribution towards expenditure that was and/or that is proposed to be incurred by the Planning Authority in the provision, refurbishment, upgrading, enlargement or replacement of public roads and public transport infrastructure by the Council benefiting development in the area of the Authority...

The 2 new conditions are;

• The developer / applicant shall pay the sum of €6,797 to the Planning Authority as a contribution towards expenditure that was and/or that is proposed to be incurred by the Planning Authority in the provision, refurbishment, upgrading, enlargement or replacement of public roads and public transport infrastructure by the Council benefiting development in the area of the Authority...

• The developer / applicant shall pay the sum of €3,555 to the Planning Authority as a contribution towards expenditure that was and/or that is proposed to be incurred by the Planning Authority in the provision and extension of social infrastructure (open spaces, recreational and community facilities, amenities and landscaping works) by the Council benefiting development in the area of the Authority...

sydthebeat

arent they cheeky!...
they have almost doubled what they were initially charging for roads....




each county council has a different 'development contribution' scheme... what county is this...??

if these contributions are in line with this scheme, you dont really have a choice.

lialwarrior

County Meath.

Cheeky is one way to describe it alright! I was just wondering where I stood i.e. are they allowed to change conditions after the application has been finalised?

I have to pay them €12,536 in total towards contributions :eek:.

sydthebeat

unfortunately this is a legal matter, as the conditions of planning is a legal contract betwen the LA and the applicant.

I think you need legal advice.

Poor Uncle Tom

Notification of grant of planning permission and final grant of permission are stand alone legal documents, signed and dated. They cannot be withdrawn/discarded and re-issued. The conditions attached to the notification stand for that date, if the notification were to be withdrawn and re-issued then the statutory period for determining the application would most likely have passed and permission should be given by default, without conditions I might add.

If an error has occured in the wording of a condition, the council would normally clear this up in an explanitory letter after the fact which could be attached as an addendum.

As syd said it is a legal matter, but don't sit on it, take it to your solicitor straight away.

muffler

Sometimes these things can go for you and other times against. If the PA had for example made a mistake in relation to overcharging by 30K and followed it up with a letter advising of a new reduced rate then you you would be delighted.

I dont think that any follow up letter can override or supersede a planning condition. In this instance the PA have made a cock up and it needs to be sorted but you need to get it sorted from a legal point of view as someone, somewhere will have to certify these matters.

As stated above you need to talk to your solicitor about it.

I seen this earlier but let it run for a wee while to get a couple of opinions before locking it (our charter doesnt allow discussion on legal matters). As the opinions have now been posted I'll lock this.

lialwarrior would you mind posting back at a later date and let us know how you got on with it. Cheers.