Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 11 June 2015
6. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his plans to revise the planning legislation on the taking in charge of housing developments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22059/15]
View answerI notice the Deputy is carrying an injury and I suggest he stays sitting.
I would not be comfortable sitting, a Cheann Comhairle.
As the Minister of State will know, sadly, I come from the capital of the country when it comes to unfinished housing estates with four times the national average. Under section 180 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, an estate can be taken in charge through two mechanisms. Either the developer can make a request or the majority of residents in the estate can do so. The original law specified the majority of people who were on the register of electors. This was amended and it is now the majority of the owners. In some cases, there are a substantial number of absentee landlords or people in financial difficulty with banks who cannot get the deeds for the property or do not want to do so. This makes it very difficult, where there is no developer, to have these estates taken into charge. Will the Minister of State amend the legislation?
I thank the Deputy for tabling the question. I know the Roscommon men are resilient - they had a good win in the hurling last week, so the Deputy's injury will not stop him.
Section 180 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, provides that for estates, which have been completed to the satisfaction of the planning authority in accordance with the planning permission, the planning authority must, if requested to do so by the developer or by the majority of the owners of the houses involved, initiate the procedures for taking the estate in charge.
In the case of estates which have not been completed to the satisfaction of the planning authority and enforcement proceedings have not been commenced against the developer within seven years of the expiration of the planning permission relating to the development, section 180 also provides that the planning authority must, if requested to do so by the majority of the owners of the housing units, initiate the taking-in-charge procedures. That was outlined by the Deputy.
My Department is currently reviewing, in the context of the forthcoming planning and development (No. 2) Bill, the section 180 provisions on the taking in charge of housing estates with a view to improving and streamlining the relevant procedures. A particular focus of the review will be the time limits for the taking in charge of housing estates and my Department will consult with planning authorities in this regard. It is intended that the planning and development (No. 2) Bill will be enacted by the end of the year. There will be further opportunity for detailed debate during the passage of the Bill through the Houses of the Oireachtas, which I expect to take place in the autumn.
When the Minister of State is responding, he might address the question I have asked. Will he revert back to the original legislation?
I bring a second issue to the attention of the Minister of State on the taking-in-charge process. I refer to the drawdown of bonds where the developer is gone and the estate is incomplete. In a number of instances in my part of the country, insurance companies are not releasing the bonds. They are licensed here to operate in this jurisdiction. One, in particular, that is causing significant problems is HCC International, which will not engage with the local authorities.
It is not just the insurance companies. Bank of Ireland is very slow to engage, as is IBRC, which has stated it will not deliver on the bonds in place for developments. How can we get local authorities to finish out these estates and ensure that people can live in a habitable housing estates if pillar banks are dragging their heels, if the State-owned IBRC is not honouring bonds and if insurance companies licensed by the State and have bonds here are not willing to release those bonds to have those estates completed in line with the agreements in place?
I again confirm that we will revise the planning legislation in the autumn and plan to strengthen and streamline the taking-in-charge protocols and processes to assist local authorities to deal with the many legacy issues the Deputy has outlined.
Strong progress has been made with estates that local authorities have registered as unfinished. More than 3,000 such unfinished estates were registered in 2011. They have been resolved to the extent that there are now fewer than 900 throughout the country with the help of the special resolution funds and funds put in place by local authorities. That is not to confuse it with the taking in charge of estates where there are many legacy issues, including infrastructure deficits, and developers or builders having gone off site. Those legacy issues have to be dealt with by the local authorities, which have the appropriate powers to pursue developers to ensure that those estates are finished to a proper standard. Every citizen living in an estate is entitled to a house that is finished to a high quality and a proper standard. Developers and builders have a responsibility in this regard. Local authorities have the appropriate powers to pursue them in the interests of citizens.
I have no difficulty with the local authorities living up to their responsibilities. However, in a large number of estates in counties Galway and Roscommon, the developer is gone and is not to be found. When the planning permission was granted, IBRC, which is owned by the State, put bonds in place for some of these developers. Now this State agency is not honouring these bonds. The insurance companies that were licensed by the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority issued commitments and bonds that they are not honouring. Even pillar banks, such as Bank of Ireland, are dragging their heels over releasing bonds in cases where there is no developer and people are living in what are still building sites.
Those bonds were a condition of the planning permission. Fees were paid by the developer to ensure a bond was put in place. Now we find that some of the supposedly most reputable organisations in the country are washing their hands of it and letting people remain in these half-finished estates without releasing the money to get them completed.
The bonds were put in place almost as an insurance policy. Where a developer does not complete an estate to a proper standard, they can be drawn down. It is the responsibility of the local authority to ensure that those bonds are put in place in a comprehensive and secure way. It is also the responsibility of the local authority, in the interest of the citizens who live on such estates, to pursue the developers. If the developers have gone off site and cannot be pursued further, the local authority must engage with the credit institutions, banks and insurance firms that are providing those bonds. The local authorities have the power to pursue those and it is their responsibility to do so.
In the planning Bill that will come to the House in the autumn, we hope to strengthen that process and we are open to proposals from the opposite side, including the Deputy's views. I look forward to further engagement at that time on how we can strengthen the hand of local authorities. These are further legacy issues we need to address. We are making strong progress in many estates. Some are outstanding and it is very frustrating, but local authorities must continue to pursue those who are responsible. They cannot always fall back on the taxpayer to bail out the developers who went off-site without finishing the estates. Local authorities have the power to pursue them and those banks have responsibility to pay them also.
If I give the Minister of State the details, will he use his offices to engage with companies?
The Deputy should talk to the Minister of State privately as we are over time.
