Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 September 2018
149. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government when the Land Development Agency was set up; if he will provide statistical information (details supplied) relating to the agency; and the mechanism to be used to provide a legal basis to the agency. [37894/18]
View answerI, along with my colleague the Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, signed the Establishment Order for the new Land Development Agency on 14 September 2018, this Order was made under the Local Government Services (Corporate Bodies) Act 1971. The LDA will act as a new commercial State body to actively manage development land with two primary objectives.
- The first objective is to ensure the optimal usage of State lands, coordinating their regeneration and development and opening up key sites not being optimally used, especially for delivery of new homes.
- The second objective is to drive strategic land assembly through mechanisms that will bring together both public and private sector interests in ensuring the timely preparation and release of strategic land for development in a counter-cyclical manner. Such counter-cyclical action will be aimed at stabilising any tendency towards volatility in development land values, securing more of the increase in such values as a result of the planning and infrastructure investment processes for the common good and thereby driving increased affordability through better and more cost-competitive land availability.
The Agency will act as a national centre of expertise, working with and supporting local authorities, public bodies and other interests, to harness public lands as catalysts to stimulate regeneration and wider investment and to achieve compact, sustainable growth, with a particular emphasis on complex regeneration projects and the provision of affordable housing.
The LDA has been established, with three staff members initially rising to five in the weeks ahead and rising progressively thereafter, in line with the expansion of its development lands portfolio. The expectation is that the Agency will have some 25 staff when fully operational. Staffing of the LDA will be focused on securing experienced personnel in the areas of planning, construction and development, project management, finance, procurement and law.
Now that it has been established, the LDA is in the process of advancing agreements with various State bodies in relation to a range of sites, with the Housing Agency, the Office of Public Works, the Department of Health, the HSE and the Department of Defence participating in the first tranche of land agreements. A detailed business plan for the LDA is currently in development and will provide additional information on its delivery programme.
Moreover, to support the work of the LDA, the Government has agreed new policies requiring that 30% of public lands coming forward for redevelopment and or disposal are to be reserved for affordable housing purposes, in addition to the statutory requirement for 10% social housing under Part V provisions, ensuring more housing supply at affordable prices and rents.
My Department is advancing the preparation of primary legislation to underpin the LDA in the longer term, replacing the Order under which it has currently been established. It is expected that a General Scheme will be published later this Autumn with a Bill being published in early 2019, ensuring that the LDA has a clear mandate and sufficient powers, including in relation to compulsory acquisition if that becomes necessary, to deliver.
