Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 March 2021
345. Deputy Cormac Devlin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of strategic housing developments in each of the years 2016 to 2020, inclusive, in tabular form; the status of such applications approved and commencement notices in each of the four Dublin local authorities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11833/21]
View answerThe 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.
With specific regard to SHD applications received in respect of proposed developments in the functional areas of the four Dublin local authorities, the Board received 169 such SHD applications from the commencement of the new SHD arrangements in 2017 up until end January 2021, and has decided 143 of these cases with 2 further applications subsequently withdrawn. The Board has granted permission in 110 of these cases to date.
The information requested by the Deputy is set out in the table below:
|
Local Authority |
No of Applications Lodged |
Refused/ Quashed/ Withdrawn |
Yet to be decided |
Granted |
Commencement Notices for Developments Granted |
|
Dublin City Council- Total |
67 |
14 |
11 |
42 |
15 |
|
2017 |
3 |
||||
|
2018 |
4 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
|
|
2019 |
28 |
4 |
19 |
8 |
|
|
2020 |
29 |
8 |
20 |
4 |
|
|
2021 |
3 |
1 |
11 |
||
|
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council- Total |
53 |
8 |
8 |
37 |
10 |
|
2017 |
3 |
||||
|
2018 |
9 |
3 |
8 |
5 |
|
|
2019 |
20 |
2 |
14 |
5 |
|
|
2020 |
20 |
4 |
13 |
||
|
2021 |
1 |
8 |
2 |
||
|
Fingal County Council- Total |
25 |
9 |
3 |
13 |
3 |
|
2017 |
1 |
||||
|
2018 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
|
2019 |
14 |
3 |
|||
|
2020 |
8 |
5 |
12 |
2 |
|
|
2021 |
1 |
3 |
|||
|
South Dublin County Council- Total |
24 |
4 |
2 |
18 |
4 |
|
2017 |
1 |
||||
|
2018 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
|
|
2019 |
11 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
|
|
2020 |
9 |
1 |
11 |
1 |
|
|
2021 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
||
|
Total for the four Dublin Authorities |
169 |
35 |
24 |
110 |
32 |
The status of the level of activation 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 data indicated on commencements arises from a review undertaken on 9 February 2021.
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.
