Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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292. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of applications for fast-track housing development made under the legislation introduced in the Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016, by county; the number of developments that went to build after securing planning permission; the number of development sites that were sold on the market after securing planning permission and before going on to build; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14435/19]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016 introduced new temporary streamlined arrangements to enable planning applications for strategic housing developments (SHD) - i.e. developments of 100 housing units or more or student accommodation or shared accommodation developments of 200 bed spaces or more - to be made directly to An Bord Pleanála for determination instead of having to be submitted in the first instance to the local planning authority with the possibility of subsequent appeal to the Board. These arrangements came into operation on 3 July 2017.

The primary purpose of the SHD arrangements is to speed up the planning decision-making process, thereby providing greater planning certainty for developers in terms of the timelines within which proposals for such developments can be determined, while simultaneously fully respecting the statutory requirements for public consultation in respect of such proposals.

The Board had received 65 SHD applications since the new arrangements came into operation up until 28 February 2019. A breakdown of applications by county area is as follows:

The Board has issued decisions in respect of 43 of the 65 cases to date, all within the statutory time period of 16 weeks of receipt of a planning application, 29 of which were granted permission. The remaining 22 applications are being dealt with in accordance with the legislative requirements and timeframes, and decisions will issue during the coming weeks and months.

The information requested in relation to the sale of individual developments prior to the commencement of works on the SHD sites in question is not generally available in my Department. However, of the applications that were granted permission, it is understood that commencement notices have been lodged in respect of 13 of these projects to date.