Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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599. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of strategic housing development applications awaiting a decision by An Bord Pleanála by local authority; the number of strategic housing development applications that have already received a pre-planning opinion from An Bord Pleanála by the deadline of 17 December 2021, by local authority; the number that had applied to An Bord Pleanála by the deadline of 17 December 2021 for a pre-planning meeting by local authority in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2259/22]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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600. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of strategic housing development applications in the lifetime of the legislation by local authority; the number of these applications that were refused, granted permission and withdrawn, respectively by local authority; the number that were the subject of a judicial review by local authority; the number of these reviews that were successful by local authority; the number of the applications that were granted that have been completed by local authority; the number of the developments that are being actively built by local authority; the number that have one or more commencement notices on the site by local authority; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2260/22]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 599 and 600 together.

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

The Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Act 2021 (Act of 2021) was signed into law by the President on 14 December 2021. Furthermore, the Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Act 2021 (Commencement) Order 2021 which brings the provisions of the Act into effect was signed with an effective date of 17 December 2021.

The main purpose of the Act of 2021 is to restore the two-stage planning process, with decision making for Large-scale Residential Development (LRD) type applications returning to the local planning authority in the first instance, with the subsequent right of appeal to An Bord Pleanála (the Board), thereby delivering on the commitments in the Programme for Government as well as Housing for All.

The Act of 2021 also includes a number of transitional arrangements in relation to the expiry of the SHD arrangements and their replacement by the new LRD arrangements. Under the Act:

- SHD prospective applicants/ developers already in receipt of an SHD opinion under the SHD arrangements on the commencement of the Act (17 December 2021) will have 16 weeks to submit an SHD application to the Board from the 17 December 2021.

- SHD prospective applicants/ developers who have formally commenced consultations with the Board and are awaiting an SHD opinion on the commencement of the Act (17 December 2021) will have 16 weeks to submit an SHD application to the Board from the date of receipt of the SHD opinion.

From the commencement of the SHD arrangements in 2017 up until end December 2021, the Board has received 594 pre-application requests. Opinions have issued on 523 of these and 2 were subsequently withdrawn. The Board has also received 401 SHD applications and had decided 350 cases with 9 applications subsequently withdrawn. The specific information requested is set out in the tables below:

Table 1

Table 2

In relation to the Judicial Review statistics, there have been 89 Judicial Reviews (JRs) taken in respect of 74 permissions.

- Active- 46 cases (42 developments)

- Lost or Conceded- 30 cases (24 developments)

- Withdrawn- 8 cases (7 developments)

- Won- 5 cases (3 developments)

A number of developments have been involved in multiple JRs. In this connection, with regard to the data set out in Table 2, one of the developments on which a JR case was lost is also currently the subject of an active JR case. Furthermore, one of the JR cases that was lost was also the subject of a successful JR challenge in respect of the same development.

In relation to the completions and commencement statistics, the specific information sought by the Deputy is not available. 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 details of the number of SHDs where a commencement notice has been lodged, by local authority area, is included in Table 2.