Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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29. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the way in which a residence group in a private estate applies to have their estate taken in charge by their local authority; the length of time the process takes; if there is a limit on the amount of estates taken in charge annually; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28430/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Section 180 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, provides that, as soon as possible following a request by the developer or by the majority of the house owners, a planning authority must initiate procedures to take in charge a residential housing estate completed to its satisfaction in accordance with the planning permission.

Section 180 also provides that, following a request by the majority of the house-owners, a planning authority must initiate procedures to take an unfinished estate in charge, where the authority has not commenced enforcement proceedings in respect of the estate within seven years of the expiry of the planning permission concerned.

In the case of an unfinished estate, where the planning authority has commenced enforcement proceedings within seven years of the expiry of the planning permission or considers that enforcement proceedings will not result in the satisfactory completion of the estate, section 180 provides that, following a request by the majority of the house-owners, the authority may, at its absolute discretion, initiate procedures to take in charge the roads and some or all of the other services in the estate. A planning authority may, for the purposes of section 180, hold a plebiscite to ascertain the wishes of the house-owners.

In view of the varying circumstances of each estate concerned, there is no statutory timeframe for completing the taking-in-charge process in individual cases. There is no limit on the number of estates taken in charge annually by planning authorities, which is entirely a matter for each planning authority, having regard to local demands and resources.

My Department has recently launched a National Taking in Charge Initiative (NTICI) to accelerate the taking in charge of estates by planning authorities. €10 million has been made available in 2016 to fund the NTICI that will assist local authorities in developing new approaches to addressing housing estates, including those with developer-provided water services infrastructure that, for various reasons, have not been taken in charge to date.

On 8 July 2016 , following consideration of submissions put forward by local authorities, I announced the allocation of €9 million to assist in the process of taking in charge of 356 developments (accounting for over 17,000 households). In addition to the €9m allocation, almost €4.5m of funding will be sourced by local authorities through bonds and other sources.