Skip to main content
Normal View

Housing Policy

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 September 2021

Tuesday, 28 September 2021

Questions (96, 110)

Alan Dillon

Question:

96. Deputy Alan Dillon asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the status of the development of serviced sites in towns and villages across the country for persons to build private homes, with particular interest in County Mayo; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46230/21]

View answer

Marc Ó Cathasaigh

Question:

110. Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the status of the work being undertaken by his Department to develop a town centre first approach in an Irish context; the international models being considered; the stakeholders being consulted; when the work may be complete; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46332/21]

View answer

Oral answers (8 contributions)

I am seeking an update on the new Croí Cónaithe fund to service sites in regional towns and villages, which is a key feature of the Housing for All strategy. It appears that it has enormous potential to service sites in regional towns and villages in Mayo and throughout the country. I would appreciate if the Minister could provide details about this policy and how it will, in practice, increase the provision of serviced sites over the coming years.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 96 and 110 together.

Housing for All recognises the challenges in facilitating owner-occupation in towns, where viable sites available for building of new homes are in short supply.  There is significant potential for local authorities to support home ownership in these areas by making available serviced sites at a reduced cost or providing support towards the refurbishment of vacant properties where the level of vacancy or dereliction is high.  A pathfinder programme will be initiated as part of a new Croí Cónaithe towns fund to facilitate the making available of some 2,000 sites for homes by 2025. My Department is currently working with the Housing Agency to develop an operational basis for this new fund.

Additionally, a town centre first interdepartmental group was established by my Department and the Department of Rural and Community Development in November 2020 to consider the regeneration of towns and villages nationally.

A town centre first advisory group has also been established, which I chair, to enable the experiences of a broader group of stakeholders to be brought to bear in informing the new policy. As part of this process, various examples and case studies are being considered with a view to aligning best practice within the national context.

The town centre first policy, details of which are expected to be finalised in quarter 4 this year, will align the activities of the Croí Cónaithe and other related funds in a coherent framework that will supply compact growth in vibrant, liveable cities and towns to deliver improved options for both owner-occupiers and renters at all income levels. A future call for proposals will be open to all counties and local authority areas, including Mayo shortly.

We are concluding our work on the town centre first initiative. I have been privileged to chair the advisory group which has a range of stakeholders across a broad area. We have seen other towns like Skibbereen and Westport develop in recent years. Towns like that were not an overnight success. Considerable work, planning and community engagement took place to bring them to where they are. With more strategic thinking along with better structuring and enhancing of current grants, in line with Croí Cónaithe, we can really unlock the potential in many of our towns and cities.

As Deputy Ó Cathasaigh will be aware, I was in Waterford and saw the work being done there through the repair and lease scheme, which is vital in bringing vacant properties back into use. It is incredible that more than half of such properties nationally have been in that county. Great work is being done there and improvements have been made in taking the most vulnerable of our society out of emergency accommodation in hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation. Great credit is due to Waterford for achieving that.

I was also privileged to be in Castlebar to see the work going on there, with €8.53 million allocated to the historical core and €2.5 million to the barracks. I know Deputy Dillon was centrally involved in delivering €11 million for Castlebar. The Imperial Hotel dates back to 1790 and the old post office dates back to 1904. Such major historical features will breathe life into Castlebar, supporting citizens and improving the liveability of the town which is so important in such counties.

A considerable amount of exciting work is coming through and hopefully the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, will be able to bring it to Cabinet by November. From then on, we will see a more coherent structured approach to unlocking the potential of all our towns and villages.

I thank the Minister of State for updating the House with that detailed response. Ideally Croí Cónaithe will be a key driver in providing and increasing the availability of developed lands as soon as possible. I thank the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, for two great projects funded by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage through the urban regeneration development fund, URDF, for the Castlebar historical core and the old military barracks.

However, to maximise the impact of these regeneration projects, they also need to go hand in hand with an increased supply of housing to boost the population in towns and villages such as Castlebar. There is considerable demand throughout Mayo, in Ballina, Westport and Castlebar, for increasing the supply of housing. The rate of population growth in Mayo is 4.2%, one of the highest in the country. There is high demand and a major shift post the pandemic to move back home. We need to move past talking about providing new funds to serviced sites and open applications to local authorities so that they can apply.

I thank the Minister of State for his gracious words about the work that has been undertaken by Waterford County Council. Great praise is due in particular to our director of services for housing.

As the question was grouped with another, I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak, but I am somewhat concerned that we are conflating serviced sites with town centre first. We are talking about two very different things. My central concern is that when we are talking about town centre first, I do not yet have a clear idea as to what town centre first means in an Irish context. I have a clear idea about the Scottish context. I have a clear idea about the collaborative town centre health check that the Heritage Council has but not yet about the Irish context. I ask the Minister of State to detail some of the models we are looking at and perhaps some of the stakeholder engagement for the town centre advisory group. That is very important because it is mentioned 20 times in the Housing for All document. It is essential to have a very clear understanding of what we are looking at.

I again thank both Deputies. In the first instance, it is very important that we get the schemes open for application and we will be doing that. We really need to back this up with money. We have a number of schemes now, including our rural regeneration and urban regeneration schemes and Croí Cónaithe, which are really unlocking the potential of our towns and villages.

In response to Deputy Ó Cathasaigh, the serviced sites funds will be directly linked to Croí Cónaithe. We are breaking our town centre first policy into four areas: governance and enabling structures; economic and social purpose; a new living towns approach; and aligning investment and resources. We are talking about compact growth within our towns and villages, breathing new life into them, giving people an option to try to bring liveability back into those areas, reducing the carbon footprint by doing that and ensuring all the structures are there. The more people we have living in our towns and villages, the better the chance for the butcher to stay open, the better it is for the local GAA club and all the services that towns and villages provide. We had people on the advisory group from RGDATA and chambers of commerce along with local authority members, architects and those working in environmental areas. We had a very wide stakeholder group involving about 40 people.

As the Minister of State said previously, we now need as much detail as possible on the Croí Cónaithe funds. These need to be circulated to the local authorities. He might be aware that the draft Mayo county development plan is being finalised and it would be a shame not to have what sounds like a promising fund featuring heavily in increasingly important county development plans, which local authorities throughout the country are close to finalising. The draft county development plan in Mayo contains several references to the provision of serviced land. For a county like Mayo which is largely rural, this is a very important fund and we should be able to access it. That will support ramping up our construction sector to increase the supply of housing.

I thank the Minister of State for providing that extra detail which is very helpful. In particular, I am heartened to hear him talk about those four elements. We increasingly need to see housing set within a context, particularly when we are talking about town centre first. We are not just talking about individual units. It is a term often used on the floor of the Dáil which is not useful. These are homes but also homes set within a heritage context, and within an environmental and emissions context. What we are trying to do is build communities. The Minister of State referred to the butcher and the GAA club. It is also about access to schools and the walkability of our town centre. I am heartened by the response. Setting it explicitly within that context is very welcome. It is mission critical to what we do in revitalising our towns and villages. I look forward to seeing it when it makes it through Cabinet, hopefully in November.

That is exactly what we are aiming to do. If we look at the broader picture, we need to take advantage of the climate change adaptation opportunities in our towns and villages along with diverse living. We need to hive out opportunities from every crisis we have. Our town centre first initiative will give us a chance to do that. Regenerating our public realm and our streets in a post-pandemic environment is also important. The Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, has responsibility for the heritage aspect. We need to go around and look at the existing heritage assets. The environmental and the cultural aspect of what has been built in Waterford is exceptional. I know that Waterford is really trying to become a decarbonised city. It has a perfect footprint around which to build and realise that ambition. The detail will be there. All the actions will be set out and then we will link it into Croí Cónaithe when that progresses towards the end of the year.

I reiterate to Deputy Dillon that we will see results on the ground. What Castlebar has is a treasure and the people there have done great work to realise that. What is in the centre of Castlebar will really support the citizens and make the town more attractive.

Question No. 97 replied to with Written Answers.
Top
Share