Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the committee for affording me the opportunity to present this set of proposed planning regulations on behalf of Deputy Peter Burke, the Minister of State with responsibility for local government and planning.

The fast-track planning arrangements in respect of strategic housing developments, SHDs, for projects of 100 or more housing units, or 200 or more student accommodation bed spaces, were provided for in the Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016 - the 2016 Act - and came into operation on 3 July 2017. These arrangements were temporary and had an original legislative expiry date of 31 December 2019, which was subsequently extended to 31 December 2021 following an external review of the operation of the scheme. This end-date was further extended to 25 February 2022 arising from the Covid-related extension of statutory deadlines within the planning system by eight weeks in respect of the period March to May 2020.

Under the Large-scale Residential Development Bill – the LRD Bill – which is being progressed through the Oireachtas, decisions on large-scale housing projects will now revert to local planning authorities instead of An Bord Pleanála. This will, in effect, restore the previous two-stage planning process by returning the primary decision-making function to the planning authorities, with the possibility of subsequent appeal to An Bord Pleanála. These draft regulations, which will support the new LRD regime, propose to introduce a separate fee structure for LRDs in the Planning and Development Regulations 2001, as amended, with such fees to become payable to the relevant planning authority.

I will turn now to the draft Planning and Development (LRD Fees) Regulations 2021 relating to fees for large-scale residential development, LRD. Amending regulations are required to introduce these new LRD fees, which require approval by the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage and subsequent positive resolution of both Houses of the Oireachtas before they can be signed by the Minister of State, Deputy Burke. The provisions in relation to the making of these regulations are set out in sections 246 and 262 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended.

The proposed new LRD-related fees largely mirror those that applied in relation to the SHD planning arrangements, which were shared on a 50-50 basis between the board and the relevant planning authority. Under the new LRD arrangements, the relevant fees payable will be retained in full by planning authorities, which will assist planning authorities in funding the increased staffing resources required for the new LRD arrangements from their own resources.

The draft regulations propose to amend Schedule 9 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001, as amended - the principal regulations - which set out the "Fees for Planning Applications". A new class of development, No. 14, in respect of "Large-scale residential developments" is now being introduced into section 2 of Schedule 9 of the regulations to provide for the various planning fees to be applied in respect of LRD projects.

As the committee is aware, the new LRD arrangements will comprise three stages – pre-application consultation stage, planning application stage and appeal stage. By way of quick summary, the proposed new fees to be payable by project promoters to planning authorities in respect of LRD projects are as follows. First, it is proposed that the fee for the pre-application consultation on a proposed development between the developer and the relevant planning authority will be €1,500. Second, it is proposed that the subsequent fee for submitting a LRD planning application to a planning authority after the completion of the pre-application consultation stage will be €130 per housing unit in the proposed development. This will be supplemented by a fee in respect of the non-residential floor space of the proposed development, which will be applied at the rate of €7.20 per square metre and will be capped at €32,400.

As the committee will be aware, the maximum floor space now being allowed in LRDs for non-residential purposes is being increased from 15% to 30%. This change in the cap acknowledges that such developments, particularly on inner-city brownfield sites, tend to require a greater mix of residential and commercial or other use in order to take account of the differing needs of inner-city areas, as well as to make LRDs in such inner-urban areas more economically viable for developers. This increase in the cap is intended to facilitate greater development of brownfield sites in those inner-urban areas than might otherwise be the case or has been the case up to now.

Furthermore, fees of €10,000 will also apply where an environmental impact statement or a Natura impact statement is required to be submitted with a LRD planning application. The fees payable in respect of appeals against decisions on LRD planning applications to An Bord Pleanála will be the standard planning appeal fees, which are already in place.

Overall, the maximum possible fees that will be payable to planning authorities by developers in respect of LRD proposals, taking account of the various fee elements that I just outlined, will be capped at €80,000. These fee arrangements are intended to reflect the positive benefits to developers of providing tailored and streamlined planning arrangements for LRDs, including adherence to mandatory decision timelines, thereby providing greater certainty to the development sector in respect of planning timelines, while also taking account of the significant resource implications for planning authorities in assessing projects of this scale and meeting the prescribed decision timelines.

It is also proposed to revise the maximum fees payable in specific scenarios, namely, where a development has already received outline permission and full planning permission is now being sought, and where a developer has received full planning permission for a development and now wishes to apply to amend the design of the development through a new application for permission. The change in the fee arrangements in these scenarios will increase the maximum payable fee - currently capped at €9,500 - to a new maximum of €20,000.

To conclude, I commend this set of draft regulations that will underpin the primary LRD provisions currently being progressed through the Oireachtas to the committee. If, further to today’s presentation to the committee, these draft regulations are subsequently approved by positive resolutions of both Houses of the Oireachtas as required under section 262(4) of the planning Act, it is the intention of Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, to sign the regulations into law on the day the LRD Act is commenced to ensure that the new LRD planning fee arrangements can be immediately applied on the commencement of the Act. I thank the Chair and members and look forward to their questions.