The recently established Land Development Agency will act as a new commercial State body to actively manage the development of public land in a way that will make a major contribution to tackling the root causes of our current housing issues, including bringing about major new opportunities for additional social and affordable housing on public lands.
The Agency has a potentially very significant and wider role to play in not only addressing the pressures in the housing sector in the short to medium term but in the longer-term to enable the urban development objectives of the National Planning Framework to be realised.
The Agency has access to an initial tranche of 8 sites with significant potential to add a further pipeline of public sites that have near term delivery potential for 3,000 new homes and an additional potential for a further 7,000 homes. Columb Barracks is one of the initial 8 sites identified with potential to deliver a minimum of 250 homes.
I understand that discussions are in train between the Agency and the Department of Defence with a view to agreeing a Memorandum of Understanding in relation to Columb Barracks, and that a feasibility study of the site will be undertaken by the Agency. It is therefore premature, at this stage, to anticipate the detail of the proposals that may emerge.
