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

thank the Deputy for raising this issue as it is very pertinent to the sustainable development of land in the coming years and ensuring we have the right structures and systems to deliver on our vision and ambition. The Deputy refers to an article in today's newspaper but it actually refers to a part of our national planning framework document which has been circulating here for the last year. I raised this issue recently at the Committee on Rural and Community Development because it is one we have flagged in Ireland 2040 as a mechanism to manage land. That is what we are discussing here and it is what I will focus on.

The forthcoming national planning framework, Ireland 2040 Our Plan, estimates that by 2040 our country will grow in population by 1 million people, who will need at least 500,000 new homes, half of which are likely to be in key cities. It is vital, therefore, that we implement planning policies that achieve compact, smart growth in both our urban and rural areas. Drawing on the positive experience and delivery achieved under the local infrastructure housing activation fund, LIHAF, which incentivised Departments and agencies, in collaboration with local authorities, to pool resources in delivering a major enhancement of supply of serviced lands for housing, I expect that the new national development plan being prepared by the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, on behalf of the Government will deliver a number of initiatives to support sustainable growth in Ireland's five cities and other large urban centres as well as in our small towns and villages. This will involve using existing land sites, particularly infill sites in built-up areas, which is a key element in preventing sprawl which is unsustainable and represents a backward step in proper planning. Central to this will be a new approach to the delivery and location of the homes that society will need over the next decade and beyond. We need an integrated approach to housing development and management of the land needed for housing, including publicly owned or local authority housing. We also need mechanisms put in place to ensure a plan-led and delivery-focused approach to securing compact smart growth in line with the national planning framework principles and priorities.

The Government also recognises that to ensure that plans get implemented and that housing is built in a more affordable way, both by the State and by wider housing providers, as well as being more affordable to buy and rent for our citizens and households, the State must take a stronger role and lead in managing its own lands for strategic Government policy purposes. Again, we discussed at the Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government and at the Committee on Rural and Community Development the need for local authorities to be in a position of strength to manage land and to be able to dictate what happens on that land. We must not just zone it and walk away, but actually make it happen in places where we want it to happen.

Recognising this public policy need and the need for cross-Government work, the Government is considering the establishment of a new public development and renewal agency under the national planning framework that will work with local authorities and that will have the power and capacity either to use public lands or buy other lands in the right locations for future public and private housing provision that will be affordable for housing providers to develop and for people to buy or rent. It is not about selling off State land. It is about combining landbanks in order that housing is built in a sustainable way and in the right place according to the timelines we want and at an affordable price, which is exactly what the Deputy has wanted for years. He should not try to scaremonger and say it is about selling off State lands because it is not. It is about trying to manage lands. Whether we take this route, we have flagged it in the national planning framework and it is something we will tease out over the months ahead.

It is the intention that such an agency would work with local authorities in assembling and releasing key and strategic areas for renewal and revitalisation, and it will have access to publicly owned but redundant or underutilised lands suitable for redevelopment designated by the Government. Such an agency would also help to create a national centre of expertise in development and renewal to ensure that existing lands are utilised to their fullest and best extent, and in a manner which complements the sustainable planning and development of our urban and rural areas. The Government will be considering these issues fully in the context of the finalisation of the national planning framework and the national development plan in the coming weeks. It is to achieve proper land use and land management in order that we can achieve affordable housing, not just for the next two or three years, but for the next 25, 30 and 40 years. That is what we are about - looking ahead and putting the State in a position, with local authorities, to be able to manage land and deliver housing. We do not want just to talk about it but to make it happen. That is what we are considering here and it has been flagged in the national planning framework for the past year.

See this speech in context