The main purpose of the recently published Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016 is to give early effect to a number of priority legislative commitments in the Government’s Rebuilding Ireland: Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, including those relating to Pillar 3 which is about building more homes and making the planning permitting and approvals systems more efficient. In this regard, two key measures in the Bill propose:
the introduction of temporary fast-track planning arrangements whereby planning applications for large-scale housing developments (100+ units), including student accommodation developments (200+ units), will be made directly to An Bord Pleanála and determined within the specified maximum timeframe of 25 weeks; and
the streamlining of timelines, to a maximum of 20 weeks, for presenting and considering local authority own development proposals, including social housing proposals, through the Part 8 process.
Both of these streamlining measures, in respect of large housing developments and local authority own developments proposals, are intended to provide greater certainty in respect of the timelines for the progression of such housing developments, thereby facilitating the earlier provision of increased housing supply and helping to address the current housing supply shortage situation.
It is estimated that, from the aggregation of factors arising from measures already taken to reduce housing input costs, including the package of interim measures on housing supply, entitled Stabilising Rents – Boosting Supply which was
approved by the Government in November 2015, a decrease in the cost of building new residential units by between €20,000 and €40,000 can be achieved, depending on whether apartments or houses are being constructed. Among the main contributing factors are:
implementation of new apartment guidelines, Sustainable Urban Housing: Design Standards for New Apartments - Guidelines for Planning Authorities published in December 2015;
reforms to the Part V process;
reductions in development contributions and a targeted development contribution rebate scheme in Dublin and Cork to encourage large-scale developments at affordable prices; and
the establishment of the new €200m Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF).
It is also expected that the additional planning related measures in the Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016, in combination with the above measures and those outlined in the Action Plan, will help to activate housing development, increase the supply of new homes and in turn have a further positive impact on house prices.