Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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1292. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government his views on housing demand assessments in relation to local area development plans (details supplied). [33993/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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Existing provisions under planning legislation already provide for extensive housing demand assessments as part of the preparation of statutory development plans and local area plans by planning authorities.

The Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2010 introduced a requirement that all development plans must include an evidence-based ‘core strategy’. The core strategy must demonstrate consistency with the National Spatial Strategy and Regional Planning Guidelines (to be replaced in due course by the National Planning Framework and Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies), with a particular focus on alignment with regionally agreed settlement hierarchies and population and housing targets.

In addition, Section 94 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended) provides that a planning authority must include a housing strategy in its development plan for the purpose of ensuring that the proper planning and sustainable development of the area provides for the housing of the existing and future population of the area, in the manner set out in the strategy. As well as having regard to the social housing assessment now to be prepared annually under the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, the purpose of which is to capture the total number of households qualified for social housing support across the country whose social housing need is not being met, in order to better understand the level of need for such support, the housing strategy must take into account:

(a) the existing need and the likely future need for social housing,

(b) the need to ensure that housing is available for persons who have different levels of income,

(c) the need to ensure that a mixture of house types and sizes is developed to reasonably match the requirements of the different categories of households, as may be determined by the planning authority, and including the special requirements of elderly persons and persons with disabilities, and

(d) the need to counteract undue segregation in housing between persons of different social backgrounds.

In addition to the above, a more strategic approach to the assessment of and provision for additional housing requirements in support of long-term planning aims is also being developed as part of the forthcoming National Planning Framework.