Vol. 508 No. 3
84 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the amount of land zoned for residential development; the amount of this land which is serviced; the total for which planning permission already exists; the assessment, if any, he has made of the total amount of land which will be required for residential development over the next ten years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18723/99]
The information in my Department is not such as to enable me to give the detailed information in the form requested. However, at the end of 1998 my Department carried out an assessment of housing lands availability in the greater Dublin, Cork and Galway areas, the most critical areas in terms of housing supply. The results of this survey were published in The Housing Market: An Economic Review and Assessment by Peter Bacon and Associates in March 1999. A follow-up survey by my Department in July this year has shown substantial increases in the current levels of zoned and serviced land in the Dublin and Galway areas since then. I am circulating with the official report a table setting out these figures. The projected levels are set to increase further in the period to 2003. The 29 per cent overall increase between the 1998 and 1999 surveys is attributable to the effect of increasing house densities resulting from the draft housing density guidelines published by my Department in March, the rezoning of additional land and the serviced land initiative.
It is estimated that around 500,000 additional houses will be required over the next ten years. The actual amount of land required to meet this housing need is a function of location, densities, house types and sizes, etc. and it is difficult to see that an estimate of the area of land required over the whole country would be very meaningful in practice. However, under the Planning and Development Bill, 1999 each local authority will be required to prepare and incorporate in its development plan a strategy to meet the housing needs of their current and future population. The strategy must be prepared within one year of the Act coming into force and should result in a better match between housing and residential zoning.
Table 1
Housing Lands Availability (potential dwelling units)
report July 1999 (Update)
|
Dublin Area |
Cork Area+ |
Galway |
|
|
Autumn 1999 |
73,758(64,226) |
8,203(8,371) |
7,128(5,293) |
|
Autumn 2001Additional |
55,925(39,968) |
5,905(5,905) |
2,660(2,449) |
|
Autumn 2003Additional |
59,769(41,789) |
N/A |
6,244(2,446) |
|
Total1999-2003 |
189,452(145,983) |
14,108(14,276) |
16,032(10,188) |
|
% Change(from Dec. 98) |
+30% |
-1% |
+57% |
