I propose to take Questions Nos. 559 and 560 together.
I have established a Working Group on Management Companies/Taking in Charge of Estates, representative of local authorities, builders, architects, planners and consumer interests. The Terms of Reference of the Working Group are:
To consider the question of responsibility for the maintenance of common shared facilities (roads, sewerage, footpaths, public lighting, large open spaces, smaller landscaped open spaces, car-parking, etc) in residential estates, including the newer type of mixed high-density estate, and to arrive at agreed policy solutions with a view to issuing appropriate guidance to planning authorities.
To consider the issues around completion of estates and the taking in charge process (having regard to the statutory requirements under section 180 of the Planning and Development Act 2000), to identify problems and arrive at agreed solutions, again with a view to issuing appropriate guidance.
The following is the list of members:
Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government representatives:
Oonagh Buckley, Principal Officer, Planning Section (Chair)
Marian O'Driscoll, Assistant Principal Officer, Planning Section
Aileen Doyle, Senior Advisor, Planning
Aidan O'Connor, Principal Advisor, Housing
Liam Johnson, Assistant Principal Officer, Private Rented Sector
Local Authority representatives:
Ciaran McNamara, Executive Manager, Dublin City Council
David O'Connor, Director of Planning Services, Fingal County Council
Paul Ridge, Director of Planning Services, Galway County Council
Other interests
Catherine Courage, National Consumer Agency
Hubert Fitzpatrick, Irish Home Builders Association
Philip Jones, Irish Planning Institute/Royal Town Planning Institute
Bryan O'Rourke, Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland.
The Working Group met on 28 September and will meet again at intervals of about 3 weeks. The Group aims to produce a draft guidance document by the end of this year, to be issued as part of my Department's revised residential development guidelines. In accordance with the Terms of Reference, the question of who should be responsible for the maintenance of certain shared facilities in the newer type of mixed estate (that is, whether, and to what extent, planning authorities should take these in charge, or what responsibilities residents should have for maintenance) will be a key consideration for the Working Group.