Vol. 547 No. 1
756 Mr. N. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to dissatisfaction with the urban renewal scheme; if the criteria of this scheme have been relaxed to make it more friendly; and the details of the criteria which need to be met. [1719/02]
The 1999 urban renewal scheme envisages the preparation of integrated area plans, IAPs, by local authorities as part of a more planned, integrated and focused approach to tax – incentive-based urban regeneration in line with recommendations made in the KPMG led report on urban renewal published in 1996. Detailed guidelines have been issued by my Department to assist local authorities in preparing IAPs. These set out the purposes and aims of the scheme, the criteria to be used in selecting areas for which plans are prepared, and advice on the approach to be followed in preparing plans.
Local authorities were advised that the extent of designation was, of necessity, to be limited and well targeted, and that only areas that clearly fulfilled the objectives of the plans should be designated. The award of incentives could only be justified where it could be shown that they would assist in overcoming identifiable barriers to development. Following the preparation and submission of integrated area plan proposals by local authorities, these were then subjected to detailed assessment by a specially established expert advisory panel. The panel's recommendations on the areas to be designated will shortly be fully incorporated into the formal designation orders to be made by the Minister for Finance.
Significant progress has been made under the scheme to date, and two recent initiatives should further encourage the bringing forward to construction of new projects and allow sufficient time for their completion: the deadline for tax reliefs for relevant expenditure under the scheme has been extended from 31 December 2002 to 31 December 2004 and, with effect from 5 December last, section 23 residential investor incentives are now available to sites already designated for residential owner-occupier relief under the scheme. This will boost rental residential supply under the scheme at a time when there is high demand for such accommodation. No further designations are being made under the scheme; the priority now is to ensure that the scheme is implemented successfully in the areas designated.
