16.— Section 27 of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (1):

“(1) A planning authority shall ensure, when making a development plan or a local area plan, that the plan is consistent with any regional planning guidelines in force for its area.”,

and

(b) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (5):

“(6) The Minister may make regulations concerning matters of procedure and administration to be adopted by a regional authority in the performance of its functions relating to the preparation of a draft development plan, making of a development plan or variation of a development plan, as the case may be.”.