Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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391. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if a review of the strategic housing development process is underway by his Department; the date on which the legislation expires or lapses; if he plans to extend the legislation; and if so, the changes that legislation will provide for. [42984/21]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Minister O'Brien brought a Memorandum to Government on 13 July 2021, accompanied by a General Scheme of a Planning and Development (Amendment) (LSRD) Bill 2021 (the General Scheme), outlining proposals for the replacement of the current planning arrangements in respect of Strategic Housing Developments (SHDs) with new streamlined arrangements for large-scale residential developments (LSRDs). The proposed new arrangements will effectively restore decision-making on such large scale developments to local authorities in the first instance.

The proposed new LSRD arrangements will comprise 3 pillars: pre-application consultation stage, planning application stage and appeal stage, summarised as follows -

- planning authorities will be required to complete the “final consultation meeting” element of the pre-application consultation stage, involving a bilateral  meeting between the planning authority and the developer, within 8 weeks of the receipt of a request for such meeting;

- subsequent LSRD planning applications will be generally required to be determined by planning authorities within 8 weeks of receipt of an application;

- the determination of appeals against planning decisions by planning authorities will be generally required to be determined by An Bord Pleanala within 16 weeks of receipt of an appeal. 

- The application of these new arrangements is intended to streamline the decision making process for  LSRDs, thereby providing greater certainty and clarity to developers regarding the timelines for decisions in respect of such development proposals. 

- Further details in relation to the proposals are set out in the General Scheme which is available on at: www.gov.ie/en/publication/a10f2-general-scheme-of-planning-and-development-amendment-lsrd-bill-2021/.

- It is intended that the Bill will be enacted as soon as possible with the new LSRD arrangements commencing on enactment of the Bill. The LSRD and SHD schemes will both operate concurrently for a limited period of time with developers being able to choose which process to engage with during this interim period. Once the final SHD planning applications have worked their way through the system, the LSRD arrangements will be the sole planning consent system for applications of this scale.

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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392. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will provide a schedule by county of all of the strategic housing developments that are at construction phase as of 9 September 2021; if he will provide a schedule of all of the strategic housing developments that are at planning approved stage; and the duration that approved planning lasts for under the legislation. [42985/21]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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The Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016 (the Act) introduced new streamlined arrangements to enable planning applications for strategic housing developments (SHDs) 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 (the Board) for determination.

From the commencement of the new SHD arrangements in 2017 up until end July 2021, the Board had received 345 SHD applications and had decided 302 cases. The Board had granted permission in 210 cases in respect of a total of 52,311 housing units (comprising 13,199 houses, 29,938 apartments and 9,174 build to rent), as well as 1,330 shared accommodation units and 13,091 student bed spaces under the SHD arrangements. I understand that the remaining 92 cases decided have either been refused by the Board or are developments which were originally granted by the Board but set aside as a result of a judicial review.

The 2017 SHD Regulations provide for the publication of a weekly list of applications received and applications determined or otherwise disposed of by the Board in relation to SHD cases. These weekly lists are available to view on the Board's website at www.pleanala.ie/

Arrangements have also been put in place by all bodies under the aegis of my Department to facilitate the provision of information directly to members of the Oireachtas. This provides a speedy, efficient and cost effective system to address queries directly. The contact email address for An Bord Pleanála in this regard is oireachtasqueries@pleanala.ie

The status of individual developments which have been granted permission under the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, is not routinely maintained by my Department given that some 30,000 planning permissions are granted nationally on an annual basis. My Department has conducted periodic research on the activation rate of SHD permissions and the most recent data in this regard, from a review undertaken on 17 August 2021, would indicate that as of end July 2021, works have commenced on 72 (34%) of the SHD permissions granted since the arrangements came into operation. There can be some delay for various reasons, such as phasing of development, in the activation of housing developments post the granting of permission. In this connection, if permissions granted in 2020/2021 are excluded from the calculations, the data indicates that works have commenced on 48% of the SHD permissions granted in 2018 (when the first permissions were granted) and 2019.  

Analysis of the end July 2021 position by county as requested is set out in the table below:

Planning permissions are generally granted for a period of five years with the possibility to extend that period by an additional two periods, which periods cumulatively shall not exceed five years, to enable the development to which the permission relates to be completed subject to compliance with certain conditions.

The Programme for Government - Our Shared Future commits to not extending the SHD arrangements beyond their legislative expiry date of end December 2021, which has now been extended to 25 February 2022 arising from the Covid-related extension of duration of statutory deadlines within the planning system by 8 weeks in respect of the period March to May 2020.

Minister O'Brien brought a Memorandum to Government on 13 July 2021, accompanied by a General Scheme of a Planning and Development (Amendment) (LSRD) Bill 2021 (the General Scheme), outlining proposals for the replacement of the current planning arrangements in respect of Strategic Housing Developments (SHDs) with new streamlined arrangements for large-scale residential developments (LSRDs).

Further details in relation to the proposals are set out in the General Scheme which is available on at:www.gov.ie/en/publication/a10f2-general-scheme-of-planning-and-development-amendment-lsrd-bill-2021/