Planning objectors criticise new Cork planning portal as cumbersome and slow

By Peter McCarthy, Corkman

Cork County Council’s new online platform for displaying planning applications has been described as “cumbersome and difficult to navigate” while people planning to lodge objections to planning applications say the new platform is slow to be updated with the relevant documentation.

The council transitioned to the Citizen Portal Planning system in early September. The previous ePlanning system is still online but is no longer being updated with new applications. It doesn’t have a notice directing people to the new platform.

On the new planning portal a notice says that the council’s Planning and Environment Directorate launched a new internal planning system on September 3 and that for a transitional period the local authority will maintain data in both systems. After the transitional period “there will be a single dataset displaying all our planning sites as before.”

A member of the Tibbotstown Action Group, which is objecting to a large solar farm proposal near Carrigtwohill in East Cork, told the Irish Independent that planning applications and their associated documents are slow to appear on the new platform, meaning the group has less time to put in an objection before the deadline next week.

She said the roadside planning applications for the proposed Tibbotstown solar farm were put up on September 23 but the application didn’t appear on the council’s new planning portal until October 13. “We have to have the objections in by close of business on Tuesday [October 28] so we didn't get the statutory five weeks. Cllr Peter O’Donoghue contacted the council and they said that that was the way it was, they weren't giving us any extra time.”

“We'll all put in submissions but we won't have the time for experts or details because we're only lay-people. We’ve had some templates made up that people can put in submissions because it's very hard to in the space of time that we've been given,” she said, adding that the group will deliver paper submissions to the council offices as it will be quicker than each individual objector having to set up an account on the new portal.

The Inch Killeagh Rural Preservation Group, which is protesting a solar farm application in its area, posted on its Facebook page that “this new system is taking some time to get up and running. Documents on the Citizen Portal Planning are taking between 3 to 3.5 weeks to be published online for people to review, which means that people only have 2 to 1.5 weeks to review planning applications and submit an observation. People must also set up individual accounts. The old system review time was at least 3 weeks.”

“Of course, one can go into the planning department for photocopies but this will cost you. This really is not good enough, especially for large industrial-scale projects. The 5-week period will not be extended. Cork County Council need to be more efficient here! Not fair on communities and puts them on the back foot from the off!” the post said.

Cork County Councillor Peter O’Donoghue also criticised the new platform. “I have found it very cumbersome, it's very difficult to navigate. I've talked to other councillors and they're finding it difficult to navigate, I've spoken to people who are trying to lodge submissions in relation to these massive industrial developments and they're finding it very difficult to navigate,” he told the Irish Independent.

“This is a new system and I understand there's a transitionary period but at this time this system is very cumbersome and seems to be making it more difficult for people to lodge a submission in relation to these developments. Letting the general public know that there's a new system up and running, the communication has been very poor to say the least. There's a lot of people that are totally unaware that this new system is in place. Communication is very important, especially with these developments where time is of the essence,” he said.

Cork County Council was asked by the Irish Independent how the change in planning platforms was publicised but it did not respond.