asked the Minister for the Environment if he will agree that the bonding scheme applicable to the development of new housing estates is totally unsatisfactory, resulting in many residents having to live in appalling conditions for years; and if he will introduce the necessary amending legislation to the Planning Acts in order to correct this situation.
Written Answers. - Housing Estates Bonding Scheme.
563.
The practice of requiring a bond for the satisfactory completion of housing estates is only one of a number of measures available to planning authorities to ensure that estates are completed to the required standard. It is a matter for the planning authority to decide the amount of the bond required in any particular case and the conditions under which it should be used. The conditions attached to planning permissions for housing estates and the enforcement of these conditions are of critical importance. My Department have issued a memorandum containing advice and guidelines on development control generally and dealing, in particular, with the type of conditions which should be attached by planning authorities to planning permissions for housing estates and the need for care and precision in drafting such conditions if effective enforcement action is to be taken at a later stage. Many of the problems in regard to the completion of housing estates appear to stem not from defects in the Planning Acts but rather from the operation and implementation of the law. However, when the relevant provisions of the Acts are being reviewed, I will consider whether any amendments could be made to improve the existing situation regarding the enforcement of planning control in the case of housing estates.