43. Section 247 of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) in subsection (1) by substituting “Subject to subsection (1A), a person who has an interest in land” for “A person who has an interest in land”,

(b) by inserting the following after subsection (1):

“(1A) (a) Subject to section 5 of the Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016, prior to making an application to a planning authority or authorities under section 34 in respect of a development that—

(i) consists of or includes either or both residential development of more than 10 housing units or non-residential development of more than 1,000 square metres gross floor space, or

(ii) such other development as may be prescribed,

a prospective applicant shall have consulted the appropriate planning authority or authorities in whose area or areas the proposed development would be situated, comprising at least one meeting, and for that purpose—

(I) subject to paragraph (b), section 247 applies, with any necessary modifications to those consultations, and

(II) those consultations shall have regard to so much of Part V as would be relevant to proposals that include housing development.

(b) Consultations under section 247 in relation to proposed development referred to in paragraph (a) shall be held within 4 weeks of the date of receipt by the planning authority, or planning authorities, as the case may be, of a request by the prospective applicant for such a consultation, unless the prospective applicant requests that the period be extended by a specified period, in which case—

(i) the period shall be extended by the planning authority, or planning authorities, as the case may be, by such specified period upon the first such request, and

(ii) the period may be extended, at the discretion of the planning authority or planning authorities, as the case may be, by such specified period upon a second or subsequent such request.

(c) The failure by a planning authority to comply with the requirement to hold a consultation meeting for the purposes of section 247 by virtue of paragraph (b) within the time limits provided for by that paragraph shall not prevent the prospective applicant, after the expiration of the period specified in that paragraph, from making an application to a planning authority or authorities under section 34 to which the request for a consultation under paragraph (a) relates.

(d) The Minister may by regulations prescribe for such matters of procedure and administration as appear to the Minister to be necessary or expedient in respect of requests to which paragraph (a) relate and may be so prescribed in respect of different classes of such requests.

(e) Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (d), regulations under that paragraph may make provision for the following—

(i) the manner in which requests under paragraph (a) are to be made to planning authorities,

(ii) requiring planning authorities to acknowledge in writing the receipt of requests under paragraph (a),

(iii) requiring any person making a request under paragraph (a) to furnish to the planning authority concerned any specified types of drawings, plans, documents or other information in relation to that request.

(f) For the purposes of this subsection ‘gross floor space’ means the area ascertained by the internal measurement of the floor space on each floor of a building (including internal walls and partitions), disregarding any floor space provided for the parking of vehicles by persons occupying or using the building or buildings where such floor space is incidental to the primary purpose of the building.”,

and

(c) in subsection (5) by inserting “or request for consultations” after “consultations” in both places where it occurs.