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Housing Data

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 24 February 2021

Wednesday, 24 February 2021

Questions (282, 337)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin

Question:

282. Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the strategic housing developments which have been granted permission since July 2017; the number that have had commencement orders granted to them; the number of these permissions that have been completed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10757/21]

View answer

Cormac Devlin

Question:

337. Deputy Cormac Devlin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of strategic housing developments that have been applied for since the introduction of the legislation in 2016; the number of commencement notices that have been served to each respective local authority of those that have been granted permission; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10381/21]

View answer

Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 282 and 337 together.

The Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016 (the Act) 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 (the Board) for determination.

From the commencement of the new SHD arrangements in 2017 up until end January 2021, the Board had received 290 SHD applications and had decided 256 cases. The Board had granted permission in 183 cases to date.

The status of individual developments which have been granted permission under the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, is not routinely maintained by my Department given that some 30,000 planning permissions are granted nationally on an annual basis. My Department has conducted periodic research on the activation rate of SHD permissions and the most recent data, from a review undertaken on 9 February 2021, in this regard would indicate that works have commenced on 52 (28.4%) of the SHD permissions granted as of end January 2021 since the arrangements came into operation. There can be some delay for various reasons, such as phasing of development, in the activation of housing developments post the granting of permission. In this connection, if permissions granted in 2020/ 2021 are excluded from the calculations, the data indicates that works have commenced on 45% of the SHD permissions granted in 2018 (when the first permissions were granted) and 2019.

The Programme for Government commits to not extending the SHD arrangements beyond their legislative expiry date of end December 2021, which has now been extended to 25 February 2022 arising from the Covid-related extension of duration of statutory deadlines within the planning system for 8 weeks in respect of the period March to May 2020. The process for winding up the SHD arrangements and their replacement by possible new arrangements will be considered by my Department over the coming months.

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