Minister O'Brien brought a Memorandum to Government on 13 July 2021, accompanied by a General Scheme of a Planning and Development (Amendment) (LSRD) Bill 2021 (the LSRD Bill), outlining proposals for the replacement of the current planning arrangements in respect of Strategic Housing Developments (SHDs) with new streamlined arrangements for large-scale residential developments (LSRDs). The proposed new arrangements will effectively restore decision-making on such large-scale developments to local authorities in the first instance.
My Department is preparing fee regulations alongside the development of the LSRD Bill which will cover the pre-application consultation and planning application stages of the LSRD arrangements. It is proposed to set the fees at a similar scale to those under SHD and these fees will be retained in full by the relevant planning authority.
Housing for All also commits to ensuring that local authorities are sufficiently resourced to meet the increasing demands of the planning system and considering the applications to deliver some 33,000 homes per annum many of which will be considered under the LSRD process.