I move:
That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to provide for identification, management, restoration and bringing back to use of derelict buildings and to simplify and expedite applications to refurbish or change the use of upper floors or ‘over the shop’ for residential use by establishing in each local authority a special planning and building control approval system to be called a Town Centre First application process.
This is the first Private Member's Bill I have produced and introduced in the Oireachtas. I am honoured and privileged to have the opportunity to do so. The Bill is presented to the House in the context of the ongoing housing and homelessness crises. Despite these crises, we know there are between 90,000 and 180,000 vacant homes left idle across the country. There are also derelict sites. Those figures come from GeoDirectory and census figures. I am conscious of what the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, just stated in terms of getting more figures from local property tax returns and census 2022 when that information is in.
Many towns are blighted by vacancy. Many buildings are left neglected and derelict. The figures I quoted do not include the second or third floors of many town centre buildings, which could provide a significant amount of housing. I know that some of these figures may be disputed and the Government is awaiting local property tax returns but there seems to be a sense that vacancy is not as high as the Central Statistics Office and GeoDirectory figures indicate. Anecdotal evidence suggests it is, however. The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage today produced a report that highlights the need for good and accurate data. There are so many data collection points out there; we need to bring all the data together so that we can be well informed if we are going to implement objectives and legislation.
The Green Party is committed to rejuvenating towns, villages and cities and ensuring they are fit for purpose for people and families to live, work and play in. To this end, the Bill simplifies the planning process to make it easier for old buildings and over-the-shop units to be brought back into residential use. The Bill as presented is in two Parts. The first Part amends the Derelict Sites Act to expand the definition of "dereliction", which, currently, is far too vague. It aims to modernise communication methods with owners of derelict sites and for local government to address that and ensure that the Minister is informed of all long-term derelict sites on the register. Specifically, the amendments expand the definition of "dereliction" from relating simply to how the building looks to including buildings that are damaged or neglected, as well as buildings that were once residential but are no longer habitable without remedial work. This will ensure more buildings can be added to the derelict register and addressed under dereliction taxes or levies. The Bill expands the definition of "urban land" to cover all land in towns, villages and cities and removes the requirement for the Minister to have to make regulations to define "urban". It will ensure the derelict sites register is available online and is a modern and publicly accessible register. The Bill requires local authorities to inform the Minister for housing when sites have been on the derelict sites register for a period of two years. I had included a vacant homes tax in the Bill but I am glad to hear the Government is moving on that issue. That is probably the quicker and more direct route for the Minister to move on it.
The second Part of the Bill relates to expediting and improving the process for bringing the over-the-shop units we see throughout all towns and villages, urban and rural, into residential use. The amendments propose to establish a special planning and building control approval process referred to in the Bill as the town centre first application process. Each planning authority will be enabled to expedite these applications for certain classes of residential developments in order to bring vacant stock back into use through refurbishment or change of use.
The Bill specifically targets requiring change of use from commercial or industrial to residential, as well as residential refurbishment in older structures or the upper floors of properties. It provides a streamlined and faster process for consenting building upgrades associated with fire safety and accessibility certificates, planning and self-certification. Those elements can add considerable time and expense for a person who wishes to do a job such as that. The streamlined process will speed up the process and remove much of the uncertainty for those who wish to carry out this work in the context of the three or four separate processes. Those processes often make these types of works financially unviable and difficult to plan. It is important to stress that the process does not seek to reduce standards but, rather, would provide for rigorous independent inspections and a simplified set of regulations aimed at typical small over-the-shop units in town centres or conversion and reuse-type developments. I believe thousands of those units will become available if we take these measures.
The Bill has been well researched. I thank Kate Ruddock and Bríd McGrath for their considerable work on it. Addressing dereliction and providing the specialised building control approval process would contribute to bringing life back to towns and villages and help support local economies. It supports the town centre first and Our Rural Future policies of the Government and future-proofs towns and villages in urban and rural settings.
