Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

11. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if he is satisfied that the plans for 8,000 homes in the Cherrywood SDZ will deliver sufficient social housing and affordable homes for low and middle income earners to rent and buy for this planned new town; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35479/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Cherrywood Strategic Development Zone (SDZ) site holds significant potential to deliver residential development at a pace and scale that would assist greatly in addressing the current critical shortage of housing supply in the Dublin Region. As is required under the SDZ process, there is a comprehensive planning scheme in place, approved by An Bord Pleanála, for the development of up to 8,000 homes as well as retail and supporting services and amenities provided for within the SDZ.

I am confident that there will be significant delivery of all housing types, including social housing, as an integral part of this area's development, as well as the provision of housing that is intrinsically affordable for the broad range of households likely to settle in the area including low- and middle-income earners seeking properties to rent or buy.

Implementing Part V alone will provide for some 800 new social housing units to be delivered. It will be a matter for the developers, the housing authority (in this case, Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council) and other housing providers such as Approved Housing Bodies to consider if additional State-supported housing should be provided on this site, in line with the approved planning scheme and the county development plan.

More broadly, the overall market development of housing on this site will depend on such provision and investment being viable, relative to what prospective residents can afford in relation to purchase and rental costs. Cognisant of the imperative around ensuring viability of developments and affordability of the housing from those developments for households, the Government has progressed a range of relevant measures, including a targeted development contribution rebate scheme, updated statutory guidelines on apartment developments, the €200 million Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF) and wider planning reforms, including the provision for improved timelines in making planning decisions.

Taken together, I believe that these measures will further support the delivery of both State-supported and affordable homes, not only in Cherrywood, but across other major residential sites throughout Dublin and other urban areas.