The Government has published new legislation today aimed at reforming the planning laws and bringing down the price of land for housing. One of its provisions will require developers of housing estates to sell a proportion of the land to local authorities to be used for cheaper housing.
The Minister for the Environment, Noel Dempsey, said that the measures in the Planning and Development Bill were the most radical of their kind that have ever been proposed. But he says that they are necessary because of the current housing situation. There have been suggestions that the new Bill may be unconstitutional, but speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland programme, Mr Dempsey insisted that the Government had taken legal advice while drafting the Bill and said that it would survive any constitutional challenge it faces.
The new Bill will set up a planning hierarchy ranging from local area blueprints to national development plans. Mr Dempsey says that local authorities will be allowed to mark off up to 20% of land zoned for housing and reserved for people on the housing list or who have been squeezed out of the market. This land will be sold to the council, pegged at the existing use value price. Compulsory purchase orders will not be involved, but this stipulation will be a condition of planning and permission.
The new legislation means that builders may face fines of up to £10 million for breaches of the planning laws. It will also speed up procedures so that delays in dealing with applications are kept to a minimum. But, people will have to pay £20 if they lodge planning objections with their council. However, they cannot appeal to An Bord Pleanála unless they have already made their complaint at local level.
