Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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30. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if he will examine with other Departments the wider infrastructural, transport and social needs of towns that have been assigned SDZ housing scheme status on extensive land banks in view of the demand on services and infrastructure that would arise in the designated towns from such extensive housing schemes outside of the narrow scope of the particular zoned lands. [35360/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The designation of an area as a Strategic Development Zone under Section 166 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended) is a collective Government decision, taking on board observations from relevant Government Departments and the various Agencies and public bodies under their aegis. Thereafter, the relevant development agency within the meaning of Section 165 of the Act, usually the relevant local authority, is responsible for drawing up a detailed planning scheme or masterplan for the designated area.

The preparation of such a planning scheme demands extensive engagement with, and commitments from, a range of stakeholders, including relevant State Agencies and Government Departments, to ensure a reasonable degree of certainty that, within broader budgetary and fiscal considerations, the implementation of the planning scheme will be supported by a programme of delivery in relation to relevant transport, social and other infrastructural requirements.

Where the decision of the relevant local authority to adopt such a planning scheme is appealed to An Bord Pleanála, the Board independently assesses the planning scheme.

As part of the Construction 2020 Strategy, my Department reviewed broad arrangements in relation to the SDZ process and as a result, decided to progress amendments to the legislative provisions surrounding SDZs, principally concerning the review mechanisms, which ultimately were approved by the Oireachtas as part of the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2015.

I am therefore satisfied that, having set a broad legislative and policy framework for the identification and implementation of SDZ designations, and having conducted a review of the arrangements involved, existing arrangements in relation to institutional and infrastructural engagement around the implementation of SDZs are sufficient. Ultimately, it is a matter for the owners of the relevant lands and/or the relevant development agency to develop implementable planning schemes, within the legislative framework set down in the Act .