Serviced land initiative schemes are funded by my Department at a 40% rate. The value of recoupments made to local authorities to date on that basis amounts to £9.2 million.
The latest returns from local authorities – September 2000 – showed that a total of 20,784 sites had been completed nationally. A total of 3,600 of these sites were located in the areas of the four Dublin local authorities and 7,250 in the greater Dublin area, including Meath, Louth, Kildare and Wicklow. A further 50,227 sites were reported to be at construction nationally, 12,785 in the Dublin area and 18,745 in greater Dublin. While my Department does not have details of the actual number of new house starts to date under the initiative, generally, once work on the provision of services has commenced, the associated housing can be constructed in parallel. However, the rate at which new houses will come on stream will depend on factors such as progress by developers in submission of planning applications, etc.
Undeveloped sites under the serviced land initiative are currently not liable for rates and I understand from the Minister for Finance that there are no plans to change that position in the Valuation Bill, 2000.
