I move:
That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Planning and Development Acts 2000 to 2021 and for that purpose to amend section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 in relation to ministerial guidelines and to provide for related matters.
As Deputies will know, our planning laws have been significantly weakened in recent years, too often at the behest of powerful lobbyists. One of the most egregious changes was slipped in with very little fanfare in 2015 by the then Minister with responsibility for housing, Deputy Alan Kelly. What appeared to many a rather technical and inconsequential Bill amended section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, thus making planning guidelines issued by the Minister mandatory. Pre-2015, section 28 planning guidelines were issued to planning authorities to guide them in the performance of their duties. Planning authorities were expected to have regard to these guidelines but they did not override local development controls on apartment sizes or building heights, which were set out in the development plans.
However, since 2015, the Minister with responsibility for housing has had the ability unilaterally to introduce mandatory planning guidelines and specific planning policy requirements with which planning authorities must comply. This change paved the way for substandard build-to-rent developments, greatly reduced apartment sizes, poor unit mix and the removal of building height caps.
Areas in my constituency, such as Santry, Whitehall, Finglas, Beaumont and many others, have been negatively impacted by these mandatory and regressive guidelines, as have many urban areas around the country. These communities have seen the character of their local areas quickly and dramatically change while their children and ordinary workers get priced out of the places in which they grew up. This phenomenon is repeated throughout the cities.
To put it simply, these guidelines are a blunt instrument which show no regard for local communities or local need. We have seen an influx of high-rise and low-quality apartment developments throughout our communities, not for the benefit of locals but to line the pockets of developers and institutional investors. This is completely unsustainable and is a hopeless approach to planning. It is not fixing our housing crisis either. Indeed, it is fuelling it. How could anyone have ever thought that slashing apartment standards or undermining local authorities would achieve anything but greater dysfunction in the housing market? Expensive, low-standard, shoebox apartments in high-rise blocks are not the solution to our housing crisis. Affordable and liveable apartments in mid-rise developments are certainly part of that solution but such developments will continue to be in short supply if this Government continues its over-reliance on the market and allows it to dictate policy.
It is time for radical action on housing, not shortcuts or solutions dreamt up by construction lobbyists and developers. Mandatory section 28 guidelines have failed. All they have delivered is the wrong housing in the wrong places at the wrong price. Furthermore, they have greatly reduced our local authorities' role in determining development plans and planning applications which suit their local areas. After all, this is their statutory responsibility and democratic entitlement. It should be utterly abhorrent to us all that the Minister of the day can circumvent local authorities' powers and introduce major changes to planning laws at the stroke of a pen without any Dáil scrutiny whatsoever. A democratic deficit, along with inferior apartment standards and unsustainable building heights, should not be the cornerstone of this Government's urban planning policy. At what point will the Minister admit that mandatory planning guidelines have failed? Instead of blaming the Opposition for his failures, he should be correcting them. Supporting this Private Members' Bill would be a good start for the Minister. It seeks to undo the damage caused in recent years by removing the obligation on planning authorities to comply with section 28 guidelines, thus reverting to a more democratic and sustainable planning framework. On that basis, I commend the Bill to the House.
