Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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210. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he is aware that the latest figures produced by the Central Statistics Office for the first quarter of 2016 for planning permissions for apartments, have declined by 20% compared to the same period in 2015; and the reason for such a large decline, given the fact that standards for multi-unit developments were changed in accordance with recommendations by his predecessor. [23216/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy may be aware, the Sustainable Urban Housing: Design Standards for New Apartments - Guidelines for Planning Authorities were only published in December 2015 and communicated to local authorities in January 2016.

Accordingly, it is too early to expect to see any impact of the changes made to the standards for new apartments, including apartment minimum sizes specified in the Guidelines, in the figures on planning permissions for apartments to date in 2016.

Indeed, the stated drop in apartment planning permissions in the first quarter of 2016 compared to the same period in 2015 may reflect market uncertainty in the face of individual locally-set standards, prior to my Department’s publication of the new standards which are mandatory for all local authorities.

Notwithstanding this, it should be noted in the last quarter of 2015, over 2,400 multi-unit developments were granted planning permission, compared to 1,312 in quarter 1, 822 in quarter 2 and 602 in quarter 3 of 2015. Over the last 5 years, it would appear that planning permissions for apartments are actually increasing rapidly.

In addition, and more importantly to ensure their consistent application, including in the many local authority areas with no minimum standards, the 2015 Guidelines were drafted in a manner that avails of amendments to the Ministerial powers under Section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 to issue guidelines to planning authorities; the amendments concerned were inserted by the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2015.

The 2015 Act enables statutory guidelines to expressly state “Specific Planning Policy Requirements” to be applied by planning authorities, or An Bord Pleanála, as appropriate, in the exercise of their planning functions and, where any conflict arises between such guidelines and local authority development plans, the requirements of the guidelines take precedence.

While not all aspects of the 2015 Apartment Guidelines are mandatory, they identify a number of specific planning policy requirements that must be applied by local authorities. These include minimum apartment unit floor areas.

The 2015 Guidelines updated previous 2007 Guidelines, which, in practice, had little if any real effect in terms of actual development, due to the post-2008 economic downturn and after which, despite challenging economic conditions, a number of local authorities set differing and higher minimum floor area standards.

The confusion of different standards and inconsistencies between local authorities, even within the Dublin Region, and the cost implications of associated lift, access and parking requirements, were considered by my Department to raise wider concerns about adverse impacts on the viability of new housing development generally, and apartment development specifically, both in relation to public and private housing.

Housing, or more specifically tackling the lack of its provision, is the single biggest issue facing this Government. The new guidelines provide for a more consistent approach to apartment development, addressing the plethora of ever-escalating minimum floor area requirements and resultant uncertainty which, in the absence of the guidelines, would have adversely impacted not only on supply, but supply at affordable prices.