Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 14 February 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government

General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed)

Photo of Steven MatthewsSteven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

We want to see housing delivered. We know there is a climate challenge in delivering all that housing and we have done a report on it. We know the difficulties with construction. A town centre development or infill development is a bit more difficult than building three-bedroom semi-detached houses on a greenfield site. We know this but we cannot keep going with that model. We have to start to turn the planning system towards looking into town centres and revitalising them. There is a real challenge in this viability gap and delivering housing that is affordable. There is massive demand but if the sector delivers a product that people cannot afford then demand does not exist because people cannot meet the price. I agree that an assumption of permission should exist. It very much depends on the application made. If an application very much aligns and complies with the objectives set out in a county development plan or local area plan, would planning permission be expected to be granted for this rather than for something that stretches the objectives or pushes the bounds of what is in the local area plans as agreed by councillors and local people?

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