Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 1055: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he or his Department has been in contact with Kildare County Council regarding issues relating to management companies for houses in the county; if discussions have or will take place to accelerate taking estates in charge that are subject to management companies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15352/07]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Planning and Development Act 2000 sets out the statutory framework within which planning authorities must take in charge estates and may attach planning conditions relating to maintenance or management of a proposed development. In addition to the legal framework, my Department has also issued policy guidance to planning authorities on these issues.

In relation to the taking in charge of estates, my Department's circular letter PD 1/06 reminded planning authorities of their responsibilities in this area and asked them as a priority to establish a policy on taking in charge to be approved by the members of the authority, and reported on to those members on a regular basis or at least once annually. Section 34 of the Planning and Development Act recognised the practice of establishing management companies for apartment developments by including in the list of conditions which planning authorities may attach to planning permissions, specific conditions relating to the maintenance or management of the proposed development.

In late 2005 my Department contacted all planning authorities, including Kildare County Council, enquiring as to their policy regarding attaching planning conditions in relation to management companies to planning permissions for estates comprising apartments only, estates comprising a mix of apartments and houses and estates comprising houses only. Following on from the results of this survey my Department issued policy guidance in July 2006 in the form of circular letter PD 5/06. In that circular letter it was made clear to planning authorities that they should not require the establishment of a management company for a "traditional" housing estate other than in very specific instances, e.g. to maintain a facility which is for the sole use of residents.

The policy guidance did acknowledge, however, that the question of who should be responsible for the maintenance of certain shared facilities in the newer type of mixed estate needed further examination. Accordingly, my Department established a Working Group, representative of local authorities, architects, planners and consumer interests to consider this issue and other related issues around taking in charge of estates. The Group has now completed its work and it is intended to issue further guidance shortly to planning authorities based on the outcome of its deliberations.