asked the Minister for Local Government if he will list the various local authorities which have submitted to him a development plan under the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963; and the housing requirements projected therein by each local authority with appropriate dates.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Local Authority Development Plans.
53.
Under the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963, 87 planning authorities are responsible for the production of development plans for 173 planning areas. As one of the authorities prescribed under section 21 of the Act, I have been sent copies of the development plans which have been made for 156 areas. Draft plans have been made or are in preparation for the remaining areas. Most of the plans were drafted between 1964 and 1967 and are due for revision in 1972.
Housing requirements calculated locally for the purposes of these plans are approximate estimates made generally with a view to deciding future requirements as to land, services et cetera, in particular localities. Because of the different approaches adopted and the ways in which the housing objectives have been set out in the various plans an attempt to translate these objectives into terms of housing units would not justify the inordinate amount of staff time involved. The housing requirements for the country as a whole and the methods by which they were estimated are set out in detail in the White Paper—Housing in the Seventies—which was published in June, 1969.
Is the Minister not able to find out the annual requirements for the next four or five years as estimated by each planning authority? Most authorities produced a simple figure showing that they required 50, 80, or 100 houses per annum.
As I said in my reply, because of the different approaches adopted by authorities it would not be fair to make comparisons between the housing objectives of each of them as laid down in the plans they have drawn up. The proper estimate was done in the White Paper Housing in the Seventies and I would refer the Deputy to that if he wants more accurate figures.
The Minister's Department sent out special forms and issued directions as to how these estimates were to be made.
My information is that to extract and collate the information from the large number of plans received would involve considerable effort and as there are not the staff available to undertake such work and the information obtained would be of no particular value this cannot be undertaken. I would again refer the Deputy to the assessments made in the White Paper.