Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue and giving me the opportunity to outline the position from my point of view and that of the Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney, regarding town centre development in Naas. I had the opportunity to view the site with Deputy Durkan and county council officials on Tuesday during my visit to Naas County Council. I can see exactly what the problem is and if I was not convinced before of the urgency with which this needs to be addressed, I am now. As Minister of State with responsibility for urban renewal and urban regeneration, this is not something I want to continue and it has to be dealt with. It is a fine site in a very busy, functioning and competitive town with a lot to offer.

As indicated in earlier replies on this matter, the management of stalled development in Naas is a matter for Kildare County Council in the first instance. I am informed by Kildare County Council that the securing of a satisfactory conclusion to the development of the Naas town centre site has been a particular focus of its efforts over the past number of years. In this context the council, on foot of arbitration procedures, has successfully completed an agreement with one of two site owners relating to the provision of roads infrastructure to service the town centre site. The arbitration case relating to the second site owner remains to be heard by the property arbitrator. I understand that the hearing in this case is not scheduled to take place until April 2017, due to the property arbitrator's caseload. Everyone involved, however, is trying to deal with this as urgently as possible and Kildare County Council and my Department are certainly treating it with urgency.

In parallel with these arbitration cases, Kildare County Council has also been involved in ongoing discussions with the owner of the town centre site and his agents with a view to advancing the development of the site as early as possible. The council continues to encourage both the financial institutions that have a controlling interest in the site and the owner of the site to either apply for planning permission for development on the site or to offer the site for sale on the open market. I am informed that this is the key action required at this time to secure progress in regard to this project.

The Minister's role in relation to planning and development generally is mainly to provide and update the legislative and policy guidance framework, including in relation to national urban policy. He has no mandate in relation to individual town centre developments which, as I have outlined, are a matter for the relevant local authority. Numerous initiatives have been undertaken by Government to stimulate urban renewal and address urban blight and decay, which has been one of the main negative legacies of our recent economic difficulties. Even before that, urban decay had started in many rural areas. The initiatives have been set out for the Deputy in the reply to Parliamentary Question No. 373 of 17 May 2016. We are trying to drive this on and we had a very productive meeting of our steering committee to develop a new policy and to find ways to regenerate our towns, villages and inner cities, in the greater Dublin region and beyond. With the movement of people in the past 30 years towns have really been under pressure and while this site is slightly different, there is the same necessity to deal with it.

The combination of these many measures and initiatives, building on those of the previous Government, is evidence of the commitment of this Government to address town renewal issues generally. We will continue to progress such initiatives as appropriate, with a view to revitalising towns like Naas and assisting in their economic recovery in a planned and sustainable manner. We are trying to develop new policies and in our action plan, Rebuilding Ireland, there is a commitment to produce new initiatives before the end of the year and to publish them next year. We are also looking to strengthen the laws around derelict and inactive sites so we will hopefully have more powers to enable local authorities to deal with situations where there is neglect. Hopefully, those new initiatives will not be needed in the case of Naas and it will be dealt with before that.

The management of the stalled town centre development in Naas is mainly a matter for Kildare County Council. The council is in contact with our Department and we will continue that engagement to see where we can help. It might not be appropriate for the Minister, Deputy Coveney, at this time, in view of the arbitration process, but he said he will contact the Deputy to discuss it and what can be done.

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