Donabate Portrane Community Council is to meet Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien to discuss planning policy issues.The meeting comes about after the Community Council had issued a statement saying it was disappointed that Minister O’Brien’s officials said he would not meet it.This prompted the Minister to quickly contact the Community Council to say a letter from Donabate Portrane Community Council seeking a meeting had not been brought to his attention by his officials. He said he was prepared to meet them. The Community Council wants to question the minister about his previous promise to abolish the Strategic Housing Development (SHD) process.This process allows developers to bypass local authorities and apply directly to An Bord Pleanála for planning permission.It applies to developments of over 100 homes. The promised meeting comes about after a letter sent to the Minister was answered by his officials, saying he could not discuss planning issues with Donabate Portrane Community Council. The Community Council had written to Minister O’Brien last month. In the letter it was stated that the Donabate community is alarmed at plans by Cannon Kirk to use the Strategic Housing Development (SHD) process to apply to build housing 1,368 units at Corballis East in the village. An Bord Pleanála has categorised 1,000 of these units as apartments. The letter to the Minister stated that in this instance the SHD process is facilitating an unsustainable exercise in over-development.The Minister contacted the Community Council after it issued a statement saying it was disappointed his officials wrote to say he would not meet.He said he would respond to the original letter and was prepared to meet the community council to discuss the policy issues around the use of the Strategic Housing Development (SHD) process. A spokesperson for the Community Council said that it was eager to see the end of the SHD process and was anxious to discuss this with the minister.The Government has decided that the Strategic Housing Development (SHD) process is to remain in place until the end of next year. The community council spokesperson added: “The Minister gave a commitment before this year’s general election that he would abolish the Strategic Housing Development (SHD) process. We want to tease this out in a meeting with the Minister.” In a related development, Donabate Portrane Community Council said it had been contacted by developer Cairn Homes which is seeking planning permission for 36 houses and 28 apartments/duplexes at Ballymastone in Donabate. The company is seeking planning permission from Fingal County Council. An objection to the scheme has been submitted by Donabate Portrane Community Council, which said it would be inappropriate to meet the developer ahead of a decision on the planning application.