The Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended (the Act) includes several legislative provisions that relate to the duration of a planning permission.
Section 40 of the Act provides that the appropriate period for the completion of a planning permission shall generally be 5 years, unless otherwise specified by the planning authority pursuant to section 41 of the Act.Section 42 of the Act enables the holder of a planning permission to apply to a planning authority for up to two extensions of duration of a permission to the initial appropriate period of the permission, provided that the combined duration of both extensions does not exceed 5 years.
The granting of any such extension of duration of permission is subject to the planning authority being satisfied under section 42(1) of the Act that the development has been commenced, substantial works have been carried out, the development will be completed in a reasonable time and that, under section 42(8) of the Act, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and appropriate assessment (AA) are not required for the proposed extension.
It is proposed to retain the normal 5 year duration of permission in the draft planning reform Bill.