Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish everyone a good break. This is the final session of a very busy term.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for affording me the opportunity to speak on behalf of the Government on this Private Members Bill. Dereliction is an area which falls under my remit as Minister of State in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The Bill is entitled the Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill, which has been brought forward by Deputy Steven Matthews, who is also the Chair of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage. I can confirm the Government has agreed not to oppose the Bill, having regard to the well-intentioned spirit in which it has been introduced and the underlying objectives it is intended to achieve, which we all want to do, which is to bring old buildings back into use for people to live in.

I want to go through this Private Members' Bill in a technical way because the Deputy has raised technical points, and it proposes to provide for the identification, management, restoration and bringing back to use of derelict and vacant buildings and to simplify and expedite the planning and building control approval processes in this regard. While the underlying objectives of the Bill are aimed at expediting the processes for the bringing into use of vacant and derelict buildings for residential purposes, thereby assisting in increasing housing supply and facilitating urban regeneration, which is in line with the objectives of Government housing policy, Housing for All, I have to record at the outset that we have some concerns as to how these objectives are to be achieved under the Bill.

As Deputy Matthews is no doubt aware, the Government already has a comprehensive package of measures in place to address vacancy and dereliction, including many of which he has referred to. These include the town centre first policy, which is no doubt the reason the Deputy had gone with that name for the application to be made under the Bill, which aims to combat vacancy and dereliction and breathe new life into our town centres with a targeted investment programme underpinned by substantial funding from a number of funding streams, including the rural regeneration and development fund and €150 million from the urban regeneration and development fund, which has been made available to local authorities to acquire vacant or derelict properties and sites for reuse. We have just announced in the past two days that €120 million of that has been allocated and that various amounts have been allocated to different local authorities to bring vacant and derelict units back into use by those local authorities. The fund is there and has been pioneered in Limerick City and County Council whereby, under the current scheme, local authorities will bring existing vacant and derelict units back into use by purchasing them, bringing them back into use and selling them on for people to live in in areas with a population of more than 10,000 people. This covers large towns and cities. That would then become a revolving fund for the local authorities to continue to do that work.

The second major Government initiative in this area is the provision of step-by-step guidance to local authorities on acquiring properties compulsorily. Deputy Matthews made reference to the fact we have set targets for local authorities to bring units back into use.

There is then the vacant property refurbishment grant scheme, known as the Croí Cónaithe scheme, which provides €50,000 towards the refurbishment of vacant properties for occupation as principal private residences, and €70,000 for the refurbishment of derelict properties for this purpose. We set an initial target of 2,500 applications for this scheme, and already 2,800 people have applied. It works because it is a straightforward scheme. If a property is vacant for more than two years, the owner receives €50,000 and that the building must have been built pre-2008. These are the only requirements. If the property is derelict, the owner receives another €20,000 on top. Furthermore, if there is a retail unit on the ground floor, so long as the units overhead have been vacant for more than two years, they qualify for the €50,000 but will not qualify for the €70,000 because these buildings are not derelict. One of the great successes of this scheme is its simplicity. It is something I feel very strongly about and I would have argued for us getting that extra amount for the €30,000 to €50,000 range and for the €50,000 to €70,000 range.

Our next policy initiative in this area has been the introduction of planning regulations exempting certain vacant commercial premises, including vacant spaces over shops, from the requirement to obtain planning permission for the change of use to residential accommodation. To date, this has resulted in the notification of more than 2,000 housing units being brought into use.

To supplement the change of use exempted development regulations that I have just mentioned, we have published the bringing back homes manual, which provides property owners, members of the public, local authorities and those involved in the construction industry with clear practical guidance on the refurbishment of existing buildings for residential use and how current regulatory requirements that apply to common existing building types can be met. I have spoken about the introduction of the Croí Cónaithe towns fund, which is being delivered by local authorities for the provision of serviced sites for housing - it is the serviced site element that is most important - to attract people to build their own homes on such serviced sites and to support the refurbishment of vacant properties. Straightforwardly, there is a grant of €30,000 towards reducing the price of a serviced site in towns and villages. We want local authorities to do that, as well as introducing a number of other measures. I am confident that these measures, all of which have been introduced under Housing for All, will have their desired effect in addressing vacancy and dereliction and making more efficient use of our existing housing stock.

While acknowledging that this Bill is very well intentioned and generally reflects Government objectives in this area, as I have indicated, we have a number of concerns. Deputy Matthews has brought forward something here that certainly warrants further discussion. Many of the elements will add to things but we have concerns about certain areas. The proposal to dispense with the requirements of the building control regulations relating to fire safety certificates and disability access certificates, which are fundamental elements of the building control system to protect the health and safety of people in and around buildings, is a key concern. We believe this proposal would weaken the strengthening arrangements put in place in 2014 for the control of building activity in response to the widespread failures that had previously, and indeed, more recently, occurred. A further concern around building control relates to the proposal to exempt the issuing of a certificate of compliance on completion, which would effectively negate confirmation that the design and construction of building work has been verified by means of an inspection plan by a registered construction professional. This would be a backward step in ensuring development works are properly inspected and monitored as they are being progressed in line with the building control requirements.

In addition to building control, a number of concerns also arise in respect of the planning-related elements of the Bill. First, the Bill proposes that development relating to the subdivision of any existing building of up to 10 m in height to provide two or more dwellings be exempt from the requirement to obtain planning permission. This provision is in clear conflict with the Planning and Development Act, which provides that any such development is a material change of use, about which the Deputy will be well aware, requiring appropriate consideration by a planning authority through the planning application process, particularly around the protection of a residential amenity of neighbouring residents and other similar critical considerations.

Second, the introduction of a town centre first application process for the change of use of all non-residential buildings would amount to a new alternative consenting process operating in lieu of the normal planning application determination process. While the details of how this new planning process would operate are largely unspecified, it would likely have significant resourcing implications for local planning authorities which would, in effect, have to manage two separate and independent application processes when they are already overburdened and under-resourced. The Bill goes into some detail on that but not with regard to resourcing.

Finally, the timing of the Bill is of concern. As Deputy Matthews will be aware, the biggest planning Bill in recent history is expected to be published in the autumn. We are expecting that Bill to come to the Cabinet at the end of August and to come to the House for Second Stage in September.

While we are not opposing this Bill, it has certain deficiencies, as I have outlined. We say that, dare I say, in a positive way and not a negative way because we agree with the general thrust of the Bill around bringing vacant and derelict units back into use. As mentioned, my Department is already doing a lot of work in this area and I would prefer to continue with the existing initiatives to tackle vacancy and dereliction that are already in place and are proving very successful.

Deputy Matthews raised a number of points in his opening statement. Regarding the derelict sites register, I want local authorities to put sites on the register but ideally we want them to come off it and those sites to be developed. That is the key aspect. It is not just a numbers game; it is about bringing sites back into use. There is a provision in the Bill for the Minister to instruct local authorities to acquire derelict sites through CPOs. That is there under existing legislation. It has not been used but it is something I am considering using. What we really want is a streamlined process. We have brought certain things in around converting commercial units over shops to residential with no requirement for planning where there are fewer than nine units. That is a positive development. We have brought in the Croí Cónaithe scheme, which is a very straightforward scheme to operate.

As the Deputy acknowledged, we have set up a dedicated vacancy unit within the Department. More particularly, we want each local authority to set up dedicated vacancy units within their local authorities, which they are now doing. We have given vacant homes officers to each local authority but if individual local authorities have further resourcing needs, they should make an application. We have given €140,000 to Cork County Council alone this year to take on four additional staff in that area because it has a specific need. It is done very much on a needs basis. We want to see the councils developing sites for people to be able to live in towns and villages. We have a town centre first plan and a town centre first office. We have dedicated town centre first officers in local authorities. There are 26 because it is done per county. They are putting plans together to develop their towns with plans coming into our Department as we speak.

Ultimately, the thrust of Deputy Matthews’s Bill is something we agree with. It should be much easier to bring a derelict or vacant unit back into use than to build a new one. It has major advantages with regard to climate change, aesthetically in terms of how it makes a town or village look and more particularly in terms of cost. As the Deputy says, there is up to €100,000 available for a derelict site with €70,000 from Croí Cónaithe and more than €24,000 from SEAI grants. We want people to go into that space. We are way ahead of our targets for Croí Cónaithe. The key thing is that we have concerns around some of the areas of building control and not going through the normal planning process. We want that to be streamlined in terms of pre-planning.

Those are my initial comments on the Bill. I look forward to making comments at the end of the debate as well. I thank Deputy Matthews for bringing forward the Bill. I will elaborate further as I hear comments from individual Deputies and their views on the Bill. It is good to see Bills like this coming forward for discussion. We have concerns about certain aspects but there are elements of the Bill that we will take on board as well.

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