Family-friendly apartments

Sir, – Like David Earle (Letters, January 12th), I hope that Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council "sticks to its guns" in relation to its new planning requirements.

Lest I be accused of bias, I hope too that Dublin City Council does the same.

However, without the Minister for Housing and Local Government withdrawing the specific planning policy requirements, the probability of An Bord Pleanála continuing to ignore democratically agreed city and county development plans will continue.

I am prepared to accept that these were first introduced to speed up delivery on housing but they have been so expanded as to make the work of council planners and the development plans virtually redundant.

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If we want good planning and if we want good housing with an appropriate tenure mix, the best way to ensure that is strengthened development plans and stronger local government, with a parallel reduction of the powers of the unaccountable An Bord Pleanála and the even more unaccountable Department of Housing. – Yours, etc,

Cllr DERMOT

LACEY,

Labour,

Donnybrook,

Dublin 4.