Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I move amendment No. 4:

In page 6, to delete lines 13 and 14 and substitute the following:“ “prospective applicant” means a person who—

(a) is the owner of the land concerned, or

(b) has the written consent of the owner to make an application under section 4 in respect of that land, and who intends to apply for permission under that section in respect of that land;”.

This amendment amends the definition of the term "prospective applicant" in section 3 relating to definitions for purposes of chapter 1 of Part 2 of the Bill dealing with proposed strategic developments. The amendment is required in order to make it clear that a prospective applicant for planning permission for a proposed strategic housing development includes a person who does not own the land on which it is intended to build a development, provided that he or she has the agreement of the person who owns the land to make the necessary planning application. The existing text already provides that a person who has an interest in the land may be a prospective applicant for the purposes of this chapter of the Bill. The amendment will bring the provisions as regards entitlement to apply for planning permissions for strategic housing developments broadly in line with those for planning applications generally. To this end I intend to make regulations under section 12 of the Bill requiring an applicant for permission for a strategic housing development who does not own the land concerned to include in the application the written agreement of the person who owns the land to the making of the application.

In this connection, I should point out that subsection (6) of section 10 provides that person shall not be entitled, solely by reason of a permission under section 9, to carry out any development.

I propose to speak to amendments Nos. 6 to 9, inclusive, together. In essence, there are two aspects of the proposed changes to the definition of a strategic housing development. The first is the necessity to remove a possible interpretation that the existing definition requires that, in order to qualify as a strategic housing development, a large housing or student accommodation development must include a mixture of other uses that are permissible under the zoning for the land. The revised definition clarifies that a large housing or student accommodation development may include a mixture of others such as still qualify as strategic housing development for the purposes of the Bill.

The second aspect relates to the extent for uses to be permitted in a strategic housing development. Under the proposed revised definition the amount of other uses that can be permitted will increase according to the overall size of the development, with a dual limit on the amount of other uses of not more than 15% of the total gross floor area of the development and not more than 4,500 sq m.

It is also proposed to enable the Minister to prescribe alternative area measurements to those specified in the revised definition in order to enable the area required to be refined in light of experience with the first developments to progress under the new approval arrangement.