Newsflash April 2011
Pre-planning application decision by An Bord Pleanála 21.04.2011.
Decision: NPH is a “Strategic Infrastructure Development”
The CEO of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) announced on August 27th 2010 that the NPHDB will engage directly with An Bord Pleanala regarding planning for the hospital, bypassing Dublin City Council. It appears that the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2010 applies. The NPHDB is “evaluating the impacts of this legislation on our project”.
A spokesman for the HSE announced on September 7th 2010 that the NPHDB will begin talking to An Bord Pleanala on September 29th, after which An Bord Pleanala will decide whether the hospital comes within their jurisdiction.
Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2010 is not yet available online. It will replace the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009.
The Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009, section 78, subsection (c) on page 148, inserts an additional paragraph after paragraph 3 of the 2000 Act, extending its jurisdiction to:
“Health Infrastructure
4. Development comprising or for the purposes of the following:
A health care facility providing in-patient services, but excluding a development which is predominantly for the purpose of providing care services within the meaning given to that term by section 3 of the Nursing Homes Support Scheme Act 2009.”
There has been no consultation with the general public to date (October 2010), despite the NPHDB having been established over three years ago, in May 2007. The NPHDB has not made plans available and has not provided the public with even the simple courtesy of a website. This means that the public has no information on the Design of the proposed hospital. How many meters high is the proposed building? Forty meters? Fifty? Sixty?
Answer:- (posted 5th sept.2011) We have just found out from the planning application to An Bord Pleanala that the height will be a whopping 94.49m OD.
“The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) will submit a Design application for the new children’s hospital to Dublin City Council in June 2010. This application will be processed in accordance with Dublin City Council’s Design application process, including public access to submitted information and Design plans.” – Mary Harney, Dail questions, April 20th 2010
“It would have been prudent if the proposed plan for the development and its access had been made available for public scrutiny” – Maurice Neligan, HEALTHplus, Irish Times, August 10th 2010