Mr. Paul Hyde:

I wish a good morning to the Chairman, committee members and colleagues from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. I thank the joint committee for the opportunity to appear before it to discuss the operations of the board in the context of strategic housing developments, SHDs, and to respond to any questions the committee may have in respect of such developments.

I will take this opportunity to introduce myself. I am the deputy chair of An Bord Pleanála and also serve as chairperson of the board's strategic housing division. I am joined this morning by Ms Rachel Kenny, director of planning operations at the board. With the Chairman's indulgence, I may ask her to address some of the issues raised, as she may be more familiar with such matters.

The board undertakes a critical role in considering and determining strategic housing development proposals and we remain committed to delivering decisions as quickly and effectively as possible. The strategic housing development legislation has been in operation for just over three years since July 2017. In that time a total of 265 cases have been decided. All cases have been decided within the mandatory timelines provided for, that is, 16 weeks, except for five cases where oral hearings were held, which extends the mandatory timeline to 24 weeks. An Bord Pleanála has also issued opinions on more than 400 pre-application consultations on potential strategic housing proposals.

The role of the board is not merely to deal with cases as expeditiously as possible but to promote the principles of proper planning and sustainable development. The national planning framework and the recently adopted regional spatial and economic strategies, as well as the various section 28 ministerial guidelines published over the last decade, set a clear roadmap for appropriate development in the appropriate locations to facilitate the sustainable and compact growth of our cities, towns and rural hinterlands beyond. The board has a clear role in implementing such policies through the processing of case decisions received.

In a constantly evolving and more complex legislative and legal context, where environmental issues and public participation are to the fore, it is also crucial that the board has all the information it needs to make sound decisions and gives citizens and all interested groups the appropriate time to input their views on proposals during the deliberative process, reflecting our core principles of integrity, independence, impartiality and fair-mindedness.

To give members some background on the strategic housing developments division, on commencement of the legislation the board was provided with ten additional staff across planning inspectorate and administrative teams, although during 2019 this was increased to 17 staff. Furthermore, there are four board members assigned to the division of the board, which is chaired by me, and the members of this division are required to prioritise these cases, as with all large-scale housing appeals under section 34 that come before the division.

The board’s performance regarding strategic housing developments has been very strong. As I mentioned, the board have decided 265 cases to date with 183 of these being a decision to grant and 79 a decision to refuse with three having been withdrawn. As of 30 September, approximately 40,000 residential units have been permitted under strategic housing development provisions. Some 29,000 of these were apartments and 11,000 are houses, with approximately 4,000 social houses incorporated and a further 10,100 student bed-spaces have been permitted. Pre-application and consultation requests considered to date account for some 63,000 residential units and approximately 12,000 student bed-spaces, so we anticipate significant and ongoing applications in the near future.

To date, approximately 30% of the applications before the board have been refused. The board remains committed to approving the right developments in the right locations and to the highest design standards. Rather than go into any further detail, as I am conscious that I am taking up members’ valuable time to raise specific issues, I will leave it at that. We are happy to answer any questions or specific queries members may have as they arise.