Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 27 May 2020
1050. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the status of the proposed use it or lose it planning permission that he indicated he planned to introduce to address the issue of developers in receipt of strategic housing developments planning permission using the permission for speculative gain rather than residential development. [7403/20]
View answerUnder the Government's Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan on Housing and Homelessness, the Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016 introduced new streamlined arrangements to enable planning applications for strategic housing developments (SHDs) of 100 housing units or more, or student accommodation or shared accommodation developments of 200 bed spaces or more, to be made directly to An Bord Pleanála for determination.
The recent review of the Strategic Housing Development arrangements highlighted that while they have generally been a success in providing a fast-track development consent process for developers of large-scale housing developments, the number of SHD permissions that have commenced development is less than might have been expected. Having reflected on the views of the Review Group on the rate of activation of SHD sites, it is considered appropriate that developers should be sufficiently motivated to commence development on foot of an SHD permission in a timely manner, given the efficiencies that the SHD arrangements provide.
Therefore, I indicated that I considered that it would be appropriate to introduce a "use it or lose it" measure requiring developers to have commenced a certain level of development within a certain period of time on foot of a grant of an SHD planning permission. My Department has been developing proposals in this regard, the further advancement of which will be considered in context of the legislative programme of the incoming Government.
