John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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628. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the obligations that apply to the provision of social housing when it comes to Part V planning permissions for private developments; if the 20% requirement can be exceeded; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26185/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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Section 94 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, provides that each planning authority shall include a housing strategy in its development plan. The housing strategy shall include an estimate of the amount of social and affordable housing provision required. A housing strategy shall provide that as a general policy a specified percentage, not being more than 20 per cent, of the land zoned for residential use, or for a mixture of residential and other uses, shall be reserved under this Part for the provision of housing for the purposes of either or both social and affordable housing.

The Part V provisions do not prevent any person (including a local authority ) from using more than 20 per cent of land zoned for residential use, or for a mixture of residential and other uses, for the provision of social and affordable housing.

With the substantial fall off in private construction, very little social housing is currently being provided under Part V. Informed by a recent review of the Part V provisions, which included a public consultation process, my Department has incorporated the required legislative changes into the Urban Regeneration and Housing Bill 2015 which is currently before the Oireachtas.

The Bill provides that the percentage of land that must be provided for social and affordable housing in a housing development comprising in excess of 9 units will be 10 per cent.  In the operation of these revised Part V arrangements, the priority will be to secure social housing units on-site.