Results 1,161-1,180 of 2,180 for speaker:John Cummins
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Nov 2022)
John Cummins: I do not think my colleague is on line. I will continue from where I left off on the vacancy and dereliction issue. Meath County Council has been successful with the buy and renew scheme. How has the council gone about that? Did it use a carrot-and-stick approach with compulsory purchase orders, CPOs? A total of 13 CPOs have been actioned in recent years. How has that worked?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Nov 2022)
John Cummins: Kildare County Council has similar vacancy rates. It also similar regarding the repair and lease scheme in that there has been limited uptake. The council has not had as much activity in the buy and renew scheme or the CPO space. Why is that, because there is certainly vacancy and dereliction in Kildare? While the rates may be lower than in some areas, one cannot say they do not exist.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Nov 2022)
John Cummins: That is on the CPO side. I misread the submission. I thought those figures were in the context of buy and renew. Six are in progress and 13 are awaited.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Nov 2022)
John Cummins: What has worked well in my county of Waterford is the carrot-and-stick approach taken in CPOs versus making them aware of the other schemes, such as repair and lease, which has delivered 165 units - 50% of the national total. When I see a single unit in both the Kildare and Meath local authorities, more needs to be done in that space. It frustrates people to see vacancy and dereliction, and...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Nov 2022)
John Cummins: Have either council sought expressions of interest from the market in the delivery of turnkey affordable units?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Nov 2022)
John Cummins: The environment has changed and other local authorities have fed into that. What sort of interest has there been in Meath and Kildare in delivering affordable housing using a turnkey model? This model seems to be the quickest way the councils can achieve their targets.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Nov 2022)
John Cummins: That is good to hear. The councils have said they will set up their systems for the interchange between the LDA piece, which is important. Unfortunately, from the experience I had in Waterford, there are advantages and disadvantages to being up first, in that some of the issues are experienced first-hand. One of the issues is the fact that a process is being sold rather than a product....
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Nov 2022)
John Cummins: That has not been used by many local authorities. I would like feedback on how the council found that process. There is often criticism of the four-stage approval process. Projects can be delivered through a single-stage process. I assume there are risks in the single-stage process, but the council has overcome them.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Nov 2022)
John Cummins: Has Kildare County Council utilised the single-stage process?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Nov 2022)
John Cummins: That is interesting. I thank the witnesses.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Nov 2022)
John Cummins: There are a few associated issues with delivery and maintenance of stock, if I could just diverge slightly. One of the advantages that the AHB sector would see in terms of cost rental, in particular, is that there is a sinking fund built into the calculations for the units for maintenance over a period of 30 or 40 years. Obviously, such a maintenance sinking fund does not exist in local...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Nov 2022)
John Cummins: What was it?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Nov 2022)
John Cummins: That is a major jump.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Nov 2022)
John Cummins: Some 22 weeks is probably average or better than average.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Nov 2022)
John Cummins: Of course.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Nov 2022)
John Cummins: There is a balance.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Nov 2022)
John Cummins: That is an exceptional length of time for a unit to remain vacant, given all of the associated elements with that. Is there a framework system in place?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Nov 2022)
John Cummins: There is a framework system in place and it is still at 39 weeks. They do not go out in bundles-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Nov 2022)
John Cummins: Kildare County Council is introducing a framework.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Nov 2022)
John Cummins: Does Meath County Council have a framework in place?