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LAST UPDATE | 27 May
IN AN EFFORT to speed up the building of new houses, the Government has today announced a tweak to legislation that will extend planning permission in cases where development has not yet begun but permission is about to lapse.
It comes in response to frustration in the housing sector over new houses being delayed because of judicial reviews (essentially legal objections) being taken against new developments.
The Journal recently reported that Michael Stanley, the CEO of developers Cairns Homes, warned that between 10,000 and 15,000 planning approvals were at risk of lapsing.
Housing Minister James Browne and junior minister John Cummins have told ministerial colleagues that developments that were already held up by judicial reviews or financial issues should not have to go back to square one and seek permission for their projects again.
At the moment the clock does not stop on a duration when the permission is subject to a judicial review, which in some cases can take years.
Speaking at a press conference to announce the new legislation today, Housing Minister James Browne said he believes judicial reviews “have been weaponised by some people”.
The Government has said it intends to have the new law in place before the Dáil’s summer recess.
Judicial reviews are legal procedures which see a judge revisit decisions by State bodies, such as An Bord Pleanála. It is the right of any citizen, business or agency to request that a court revise planning decisions.
In recent weeks, the likes of Uisce Éireann have publicly complained about “serial objectors” delaying developments, such as water treatment plants, which are needed to enable more homes to be built.
In some cases, developments have been delayed for years.
“What we are doing is tightening up judicial reviews to ensure that only those who have a legitimate interest in a project can bring forward their objections to it,” the Housing Minister said today.
Responding to the emergency legislation, Social Democrats housing spokesperson Rory Hearne said he was worried about possible land hoarding as a result.
“I’m worried about it, because what we’ve seen in Ireland is an issue of developers, landowners, property speculators, sitting on planning permissions,” Hearne said, adding that if additional permissions are approved for the land, it can increase the value of it.
“We believe that there should be a use it or lose it approach to planning permission, rather than this extension.”
Asked whether this change to the law will encourage land hoarding by some developers, the Minister said the timeline, which only allows for an extension of three years, is short enough to prevent that from happening.
Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin said today’s announcement from the Government shows a “complete lack of urgency” in its response to planning delays.
He said the announcement to pause planning permissions where a judicial review is initiated was one of the few parts of the Planning and Development Act that Sinn Féin supported last year and could have been introduced sooner.
Ó Broin added that he has no objection to the plan to extend planning permission durations, but that it will not deal with the real cause of delays in planning.
He said these delays are due to “chronic under-resourcing” of councils, An Bord Pleanála and the courts.
The new legislation will allow developers to apply for a retrospective suspension of the period of time their permission was held up in judicial reviews.
It will allow developers with just two years left on their permission to apply for an extension for up to three years. Applications must be made within six months of the legislation commencing, and construction must then begin within 18 months.
Planning permissions, which are not implemented within a certain time period, generally five years, are at risk of lapsing if an extension isn’t granted.
Finance Minister Jack Chambers said today that he is trying to provide the funds of the next few years to get big projects over the line, to create more certainty in the market.
“The history of a number of projects has been they’ve started and they’ve been shelved, and there hasn’t been that confidence within the construction sector that we’re going to deliver them”, he said.
“I think that’s part of what we need to strengthen over the next government.”
Meanwhile, the Minister once again admitted the Government will struggle to meet its own housing target of 41,000 new homes this year.
The Minister said the 41,000 figure is “extremely challenging at this point in time”.
It comes as the ESRI estimates that just 34,000 new homes will be built this year.
The Minister was also asked about the effectiveness of the existing housing schemes to support first-time buyers.
Over the weekend, people queued overnight in a bid to secure new build homes that qualify for the schemes in Seven Mills, Dublin. Many were left disappointed.
The Minister defended the existing schemes and said the key issue for the Government is around increasing the supply of housing.
When it was put to him that many new build properties in Dublin do not qualify for the Help to Buy scheme (because they are priced over €500,000), the Minister said the scheme is constantly kept under review. However, he gave no indication that a change to its criteria will be forthcoming.
Includes reporting by Muiris Ó Cearbhaill and Christina Finn
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