Based on my findings set out above, I recommended that Meath County Council, as the planning authority, take the following steps:
1. Send the complainants a letter of apology and offer to pay them compensation of €3,000 arising from the adverse effect suffered to date as a result of the Council's failure to take appropriate action in relation to the unauthorised shed beside their home. This figure included an amount (€1,000) for distress, time and trouble in making complaints to the Council over a number of years leading ultimately in a complaint to my Office.
2. Consider serving a notice under Section 46 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (Section 46). This section provides that if a planning authority decides that, in exceptional circumstances any structure should be demolished or removed, the planning authority may serve a notice on the owner and on the occupier of the structure or land concerned and on any other person who, in its opinion, will be affected by the notice. This section applies to any unauthorised development where seven years have elapsed from the commencement of the unauthorised development. My Office is not aware of any instance where this provision has been used by a local authority.
3. In the event that:
(a) the Council, as the planning authority, decided not to serve a notice under Section 46, or
(b) having served the notice under Section 46, the notice was subsequently found to be faulty or defective because of error or omission by or on behalf of the Council, or
(c) the Council, as the planning authority, decides to withdraw the Section 46 notice,
I recommended that the Council pay the complainants compensation of an additional €10,000 for the on-going adverse effect of the shed on them and their home.
Bearing in mind the prospective nature of this recommendation, my Office had no objection to an instalment arrangement whereby the payment would be made over a period of 5 years. This arrangement would entail a payment of €2,000 per annum commencing in January 2010.
4. While the Council had advised me that it had addressed some of the problems that arose in this case, particularly in the areas of resources and better procedures through the implementation of a "change management" programme in the Planning Department with the emphasis on increasing the staffing structures and building consistency, I considered that further improvements were necessary in its administrative procedures in the area of enforcement to ensure that:
(a) appropriate oversight arrangements are in place to review complaints about unauthorised development where enforcement action involving legal procedures is being considered;
(b) where legal procedures are initiated, follow up action is taken in a timely way;
(c) the Council has in place an administrative 'alarm system' which will trigger the attention of the County Manager and the relevant Director of Services to open cases involving unauthorised development where the seven year rule will expire within the following 6 months;
(d) where enforcement is "stayed", such cases are reviewed systematically and a decision made as to whether further action ought be taken in relation to any breach of planning.