Ms AnnMarie Farrelly:

I do not see the Land Development Agency being involved in local authority-owned sites. The local authority can progress those sites itself unless it needs additional resources, which the Land Development Agency has stated it can offer if needs be. Where there are non-local authority public lands its assistance in that regard will help bring them to development. It can engage with other public bodies to ensure the land is made available. I do not see the end purchasers of the units necessarily being a complicating factor. It is welcome that the Land Development Agency proposes to fund the development of some sites. I see the issue as being who will pay the development costs. If it is the private sector that will necessitate the procurement process of joint ventures and public-private partnerships and there is no avoiding it. If it is public money we can go more directly to market and engage with it to build the units and ultimately decide how the units are used and whether they are sold on or used as social housing. We can work well with the Land Development Agency but I do not see it getting involved in developing local authority-owned lands.

There is merit in continuing with the sustainable communities approach. The mix of private, affordable and social housing is a good mix and has been proven to work historically. The increase in the number of sites will increase the delivery and supply of units.

Questions were asked about social housing and the approval process and I will ask Ms Egan to speak on them. More generally it is about activating land. We all need to use our joint resources to ensure this happens.