The Urban Regeneration and Housing Act 2015 introduced a new measure, the vacant site levy, which is aimed at incentivising the development of vacant, under-utilised sites in urban areas for residential or regeneration purposes.
Under the Act, planning authorities are required to establish a register of vacant sites in their areas, beginning on 1 January 2017. Planning authorities will be issuing notices to owners of vacant sites by 1 June 2018 in respect of vacant sites on the register on 1 January 2018, indicating that the levy will apply to those sites on 1 January 2019.
Planning authorities are empowered to apply an annual vacant site levy of 3% of the market value of relevant vacant sites, where a site exceeds 0.05 hectares in area, was, in the planning authority’s opinion, vacant or idle in the preceding year, and is in an area identified by the planning authority in its development plan or local area plan for residential or regeneration development.
The implementation of the vacant site levy provisions is a matter for each local authority, including the identification of residential and regeneration land as underpinned by the development plan process, and the identification of individual cases in accordance with the criteria set out in the legislation.
As announced in Budget 2018, it is proposed to increase the rate of levy from 3% to 7% of the market valuation of relevant sites with effect from January 2020 in respect of sites included on the local vacant site registers in 2019. Legislative provision for this increase along with amendments to other relevant provisions will be tabled by way of Seanad Report Stage amendments to the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016, which has recently completed Seanad Committee Stage.
My Department, in consultation with planning authorities, keeps implementation of the vacant site levy under regular review, assessing whether additional clarification guidance or other reforms are required to ensure a consistent application of the levy. In this regard, and following an information seminar held earlier this month with all local authorities on experiences and best practice approaches in implementing the levy, my Department is preparing to issue further clarification, either through legislative amendment and/or specific guidance as appropriate, to planning authorities in the coming weeks, in relation to the application of the vacant site levy to farmland.
