Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 26 July 2017
1685. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if he has requested an independent valuation of each of the sites in the State’s ownership which he has identified as being suitable for mixed tenure developments on State lands and other lands in the Government’s action plan for housing and homelessness, Rebuilding Ireland. [36415/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra1686. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if he has requested an independent valuation of each of the 700 sites described on page 50 on the Government’s action plan for housing and homelessness, Rebuilding Ireland (details supplied). [36416/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 1685 and 1686 together.
The active management of the public housing land bank is part of a range of actions taken under the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, designed to accelerate and increase housing output. This is complementary to actions already undertaken to streamline the planning process, reform development contributions, and invest some €226 million in infrastructure, through the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF), to facilitate housing delivery.
It is now crucial that the State fully exploits the suite of actions taken to ensure the accelerated and increased delivery of social and affordable homes at a greater scale on the local authority and Housing Agency land bank. In this regard, in order to ensure a consistent and comprehensive approach nationally, I have asked local authorities to prepare Strategic Development and Management Plans for housing lands in their ownership by 30 September, with particular emphasis on prioritising those sites with the most potential to deliver housing at scale, in the short to medium term, including mixed-tenure projects, where appropriate. For its part, the Housing Agency is in the process of finalising a Strategic Development and Management Plan for the Land Aggregation Scheme sites, which will be published in due course.
In total, some 1,700 hectares of land in local authority and Housing Agency ownership were published on the Rebuilding Ireland Housing Land Map on 27 April, with the potential to deliver some 42,500 homes nationally. These sites can be viewed at the following link: http://rebuildingireland.ie/news/rebuilding-ireland-land-map/.
Local authorities play a crucial role in place-making, by ensuring that local areas are attractive places in which to live, to work and to invest. They own a range of land and property assets, which are reflective of their broad range of functions, including for the delivery of social and affordable homes. In accordance with the Local Authority Accounting in Ireland Code of Practice and Accounting Regulations, which is available on my Department's website at the following link: http://www.housing.gov.ie/sites/default/files/publications/files/accounting_code_of_practice_january_2017_final.pdf a local authority is required to record its assets in the Statement of Financial Position (Balance Sheet) when it is probable that the future economic benefits will flow to the local authority, and the asset has a cost or value that can be measured reliably. This includes land acquired for the purpose of housing delivery.
