Kate Walsh (Progressive Democrats)

I congratulate Deputy Brendan Smith on his recent appointment as Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture and Food and wish him well. I thank him for coming here this morning. I also thank the Minister, Deputy Roche, for his statement that he and his Department officials are working very hard to support local authorities and An Bord Pleanála to deliver a quality planning system that responds to consumer needs.

We have come a long way from some of the disastrous planning decisions of the past. We now recognise that when large-scale housing estates are built the appropriate services must be put in place at the same time, not in a piecemeal fashion five or ten years later. While this is a positive development in areas of north Kildare there are several older estates that developers have not completed. Local authorities have not taken these in charge, hence the residents are left in a state of limbo. In one estate there is a pothole so large that one could fit a lorry into it. Kildare County Council has not taken it in charge and the residents are frustrated and in despair because nobody is taking responsibility. The situation is repeated in various towns across north Kildare and my colleagues around the country report similar problems.

For years, local authorities had few restricted powers in planning and forcing developers to play ball. The Planning and Development Act 2000 significantly increased those powers. Under the consolidated 2001 regulations the onus is on individual local authorities to use the wide-ranging powers available to them. They must enforce them in such a way as to ensure that the developer sees that estates are completed and use the sanctions available to ensure developers do not abandon their responsibility. It is not acceptable that developers build estates and fail to supply infrastructure such as lighting, footpaths, etc., and residents are forced to take on this major work themselves. If developers must complete a snag list for individual homes they should also be forced to complete one for individual estates. Local authorities must use the power available to them and be more proactive than they have been. For a long time, developers were far too relaxed about fulfilling their responsibilities and completing estates to the highest standards and local authorities did not pursue them actively enough.

The development levy introduced last year must also be increased. It is the responsibility of local authorities to provide essential services in estates as soon as they are built. If developers pay a levy of an average of €10,000 per house it is essential that the local authority does not delay in providing the essential services. Local authorities must also be vigilant in ensuring that developers who neglect their duties on one estate are not allowed to do the same in other developments. In the past, developers built estates, failed to complete them and dissolved or liquidated that company only to set themselves up in a new company, and history was repeated. Local authorities now have the power to rule against such developers, regardless of the new name under which they trade, to ensure they are not given permission for new developments.

These are relatively small issues in the overall planning scheme but they are very important for a resident who pays a large sum for a dream home only to be faced with the nightmare of roads that have not been properly laid or surfaced, footpaths that are unsafe or incomplete, no public lighting, no green space and a developer who cannot be contacted. Some of these residents have had to wait years for their estates to be finished, others got the job done only by organising themselves in residents' associations.

It is recognised that walkways into other estates do not work. They become a venue for anti-social behaviour. They are a nuisance and disturbance for elderly people and local residents and must be closed off at an extra cost to the council. I look forward to a time when estates will be built without these walkways.

We have made great strides in recent years in tightening up anomalies in, and issuing guidelines on, planning law. It is important that local authorities use the increased powers available to them and are proactive and forceful when it comes to ensuring that developers fulfil their obligations and requirements.