John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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305. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government his plans to impose a vacant site levy on development sites in 2018; the details of the scheme; the rate at which he expects to apply the levy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30329/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The Urban Regeneration and Housing Act 2015 introduced a new measure, the vacant site levy, which is aimed at incentivising the development of vacant, under-utilised sites in urban areas.  Under the Act, planning authorities are required to establish a register of vacant sites in their areas, beginning on 1 January 2017, and to issue annual notices to owners of vacant sites by 1 June 2018 in respect of vacant sites on the register on 1 January 2018. The levy will be applied by planning authorities, commencing on 1 January 2019 in respect of sites which were vacant and on the vacant site register during the year 2018 and will subsequently be applied on an annual basis thereafter, as long as a site remains on the vacant site register in the preceding year.

Planning authorities are empowered to apply an annual vacant site levy of 3% of the market value of vacant sites, exceeding 0.5 hectares in area - with reduced or zero rates of levy applying in specific circumstances – which, in the planning authority’s opinion, were vacant or idle in the preceding year, in areas identified by the planning authority in its development plan or local area plan for residential or regeneration development. The 3% rate of vacant site levy is consistent with the rate applied to derelict sites under the Derelict Sites Act 1990 and is considered reasonable, without being over-punitive, for the purposes of incentivising the activation of such sites for residential or regeneration purposes.

It is also worth noting that all levies due on an individual site will remain a charge on the land concerned until all outstanding levies due are paid. Accordingly, under the vacant site levy provisions, there will be a cumulative effect associated with not activating a site for development purposes for each year that a site remains vacant or idle.

The proceeds of the levy raised on vacant sites will be used by planning authorities for the provision of housing and urban regeneration development in the local area in which vacant sites are located.  No more than 10% of the levy monies received by planning authorities may be used on their collection and administration costs.  At this time, it is not possible to provide an estimate of the annual levies that may be raised by planning authorities in the implementation of the levy.

My Department issued general guidance to planning authorities  on the implementation of the vacant site levy in July 2016, by way of Circular Letter PL 7/2016, entitled Implementation of the Vacant Site Levy, which is available on my Department’s website at the following link:

Planning authorities are presently engaging in the necessary preparatory work, prior to the application of the levy with effect from January 2019 in respect of sites identified on the register in 2018.  As required under the Act, this includes the identification of specific vacant sites for entry on the register as well as the registered owners of the sites in question along with undertaking a site valuation.  Vacant site registers were established in January 2017 by planning authorities and the registers will be populated as the preparatory work progresses during the year.  My Department will monitor the implementation of the levy by local authorities to ensure that it is being fully utilised, in line with its intended purpose.