Ms AnnMarie Farrelly:

I am director of planning and strategic infrastructure at Fingal County Council. I am joined by my colleague, Ms Mary Egan, from the council's housing department. I thank the committee for the opportunity to appear before it to discuss appropriate use of public land. The focus of this statement is the council's approach to the development and use of public lands for the provision of housing and sustainable communities. Fingal County Council is the second largest of the four Dublin local authorities and has the third biggest local authority catchment area in the country. The results from Census 2016 show that Fingal is Ireland's fastest growing county with the youngest population and also that Balbriggan is the youngest town in the country.

Fingal County Council supports the ongoing development of the county in accordance with the national, regional and local planning frameworks to which it has actively contributed. Fingal County Council is committed to ensure the area develops in a sustainable way and supports the key principles of healthy place-making, climate action and economic opportunity. In view of the current housing crisis, it is Fingal County Council's priority to form effective and innovative approaches to mobilise development on public and private land to create housing and quality urban neighbourhoods. Consequently, any development, including that of public land, is positioned against national, regional and local policies and objectives.

To this end, Rebuilding Ireland, the national planning framework, the Fingal development plan, LIHAF and other such policies and programmes set the context for future development. These enabling policies are in place and will facilitate Fingal County Council in developing sustainable communities.

Facilitating the provision of the right quantity of appropriate housing in the right locations that is accessible and affordable for all residents is crucial for Fingal County Council. To this end, there are 72 active private development sites which will deliver more than 12,000 homes in the county. There are also existing planning permissions for a further 55 sites, with the capacity to deliver more than 5,000 homes. The provision of housing in Fingal, as with all planning authorities, requires facilitating policies and principles within the county development plan and the core strategy. These policies enable the delivery of quality dwellings and help to create and maintain sustainable communities and neighbourhoods.

In Fingal we have employed a number of policy responses to facilitate housing development, namely, the adoption of a core strategy which allows for the development of 49,000 housing units on more than 1,700 ha of zoned land. To ensure the development of sustainable communities that are economically, environmentally and socially healthy and resilient, significant master planning has been carried out and is ongoing. Furthermore, there are local area plans in place across the county and others under draft. Hansfield strategic development zone, in Dublin 15, continues to work as a successful policy tool, with a high rate of completions in the second quarter of 2018. We are on target to deliver in excess of 2,000 homes in 2018. That will compare to a figure of 2,700 in 2008 and the trend is favourably upwards. In 2014 there were 300 completions. There has, therefore, been a significant change in recent years.

Fingal recognises the benefits of the parallel delivery of supporting infrastructure. A review of the critical infrastructure required to unlock the significant residential zoned and serviced land banks available in Fingal was undertaken as part of the Fingal development plan in 2015. On the back of the work carried out as part of this infrastructure audit, the Fingal County Council sought funding from the central government LIHAF initiative launched in August 2016. The council was successful in securing total LIHAF funding of €26.58 million for essential infrastructure required on three multi-unit housing development sites, the second highest allocation of the 13 local authorities that were successful in October 2017. In the short to medium term LIHAF funding will unlock 2,200 residential units on lands in Donabate, Swords and Baldoyle. Approximately 7,000 residential units will be delivered in the longer term.

Fingal County Council is actively planning the development of five key publicly owned sites for housing. Three of the sites are council owned and located at: Ballymastone, Donabate; Cappagh, Dublin 11; and Churchfields, Mulhuddart. Two of the sites are Housing Agency owned at Castlelands, Balbriggan and Hacketstown, Skerries. Fingal County Council has engaged with the Land Development Agency about these sites in recent weeks. The council’s vision for these lands is to deliver successful and sustainable communities through the provision of high quality and attractive residential developments, with a focus on best practice urban design and layout and the provision of accessible community, open spaces and recreational facilities. These developments will provide an appropriate mix of house sizes, types and tenure to meet household needs and to promote balanced communities. The lands are key locations for population and employment growth, aligned with committed infrastructural investments. Project Talamh, an internal project office in Fingal, has been set up to co-ordinate and manage the development of these lands. The programme office analyses proposals to select the best approach to the projects and co-ordinates resources to procure, manage and deliver each project. It is essential that the lands be developed in the most advantageous and efficient way for the council. To this end, the development approach is tailored to the individual requirements of each site and adjoining area. The council is working collaboratively with relevant stakeholders to ensure the development of housing across these sites is facilitated. Our strategy supports the creation of sustainable communities. We cater for all members of society and seek to deliver a range of house types and sizes which will provide more opportunities for people to stay and live locally at every stage of their lives. In simple terms, we want Fingal to grow in an organic, sustainable way and ensure seamless integration between established and new communities. The development plan sets the parameters for the development of the sites and it is envisaged that up to 3,730 homes could be provided on them.

I have included a lot information on the individual sites in the statement and will go through each of the sites presently, but we are open to working with all housing providers on a mix of tenure perspectives such as private house builders and approved housing bodies that may work together in developing each of the sites. In total, the sites provide 100 ha of development land. They are all zoned for housing and have the potential to deliver in excess of 3,700 units. Fingal County Council acknowledges the role these strategically located sites can play in the wider Fingal region in terms of their potential to support a high quality of life, with the offer of culture and heritage, access to the coast, waterways, the city and the airport. As such, the council is focused on delivering successful and sustainable communities through the provision of high quality housing and physical and social infrastructure and improving connections between new and existing communities. It recognises that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to the use of public lands and the delivery of housing. Realising a mix of solutions which work for individual sites is the current priority.