Vol. 522 No. 4
170 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the number of houses likely to be made available under the public housing programme by the local authorities in County Kildare in the current year, having particular regard to the housing crisis and the need to meet market requirements at an early date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18953/00]
The number of housing starts which Kildare County Council has indicated will commence this year is of the order of 370 units and this includes approximately 100 units not commenced in 1999 and carried forward into the current year. The number of housing starts allocated to the council under the multi-annual programme 2000-2003 is 650 units.
The number of housing starts which Athy Urban District Council has indicated will commence this year is 62 units and this includes 20 units not commenced in 1999 and carried forward into the current year. The number of housing starts allocated to the urban council under the multi-annual programme is 60 units.
The number of housing starts which Naas Urban District Council has indicated will commence this year is 63 units and this includes 42 units not commenced in 1999 and carried forward into the current year. The number of housing starts allocated to the urban council under the multi-annual programme is 100 units.
I am prepared to facilitate any further proposals from local authorities to increase their programmes in the current year and I have already requested local authorities to front-load their programmes as much as possible to meet increased needs.
171 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if an audit has been carried out of lands available for residential development in Dublin and adjoining counties; the plans he has to maximise the number of residential units to be provided in the near future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18954/00]
Details of the first national inventory of zoned serviced land, based on returns from individual local authorities, were published by my Department on 6 June 2000. The results of this exercise show that the position in relation to the stock of serviced building land is encouraging and is set to improve significantly going forward. In Dublin, for example, the supply of zoned and serviced land currently exceeds 1,000 hectares providing sufficient land for more than 40,000 housing units. I propose to circulate in the Official Report a tabular statement providing extracts from the survey relating to Dublin and the adjoining counties. Copies of the full survey results have been placed in the Oireachtas Library.
A robust framework for the delivery of additional housing supply was put in place by the Government in 1998 with the publication of Action on House Prices, which included a range of measures such as substantially increasing the funding for the serviced land initiative, providing £5 million for specific non-national roads schemes opening up land for housing development and reducing the capital gains tax rate to 20% on disposals of residential development land.
Housing output continued to expand in 1999 primed by a continuation of the measures in Action on House Prices and additional measures introduced by the Government in Action on the Housing Market. Residential density guidelines were issued by my Department to all planning authorities in September 1999 to which they, and An Bord Pleanála, are required to have regard. The national development plan published in November last provides for massively increased investment in economic infrastructure such as roads, water, sewerage and public transport which is essential to support housing development in the period to 2006 and beyond. Housing was also included in the national development plan for the first time with a provision of £6 billion for social and affordable housing measures over the plan period.
Record housing output of 46,512 units nationally was achieved in 1999, an increase of 20% on output in 1997. Record output of more than 10,000 units was achieved last year in Dublin city and county.
|
Area |
Zoned |
Zoned |
Zoned |
Zoned |
|
County or County borough |
Serviced Land at end 1999 (Ha) |
Serviced Land at end 1999 (No. of Housing Units) |
Serviced Land at end 2005 (Ha) |
Serviced Land at end 2005 (No. of Housing Units) |
|
Dublin Corporation |
102 |
9,629 |
244 |
21,655 |
|
Dun Laoghaire |
119 |
6,850 |
303 |
13,301 |
|
Rathdown |
||||
|
Fingal |
648 |
18,482 |
1,611 |
52,773 |
|
South Dublin |
200 |
6,500 |
920 |
31,500 |
|
Dublin Total |
1,069 |
41,461 |
3,278 |
119,229 |
|
Kildare |
553 |
11,037 |
808 |
16,107 |
|
Meath |
599 |
12,002 |
701 |
14,419 |
|
Wicklow |
168 |
4,701 |
340 |
8,651 |
