THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY has called for reform of Ireland’s planning system amid a “concerning slowdown” in applications in 2021.
The Government is proposing replacing the Strategic Housing Development (SHD) process which was introduced in 2017 in order to speed up delivery of units by allowing direct planning applications to An Bord Pleanála.
The SHD process has been criticised, however, for excluding Local Authorities from the planning process with several SHD projects facing Judicial Reviews in the courts.
The scheme will close to new applications next February. The Government plans to replace it with legislation for what it is calling large-scale residential developments, however home builders have warned of the impact of planning appeals on delivering housing in Ireland and said this needs to be addressed under any new scheme.
The Irish Home Builders Association, which represents hundred of home builders in Ireland, will tell an Oireachtas Housing Committee today that if the new LSRD scheme is to be successful Local Authorities must be resourced properly and that it should address the impact that planning appeals have on housing schemes.
“Critically, our planning system has witnessed relatively little change in some twenty years and requires holistic reform,” the IHBA said in an opening statement.
“Essentially, it was hoped that with mandatory timelines together with seeking permission directly from An Bord Pleanála it would lead to a greater number of applications for large-scale developments and a timelier commencement of planning permissions.”
IHBA has warned that despite “pent-up” demand within its industry it is witnessing “a concerning slowdown in planning permissions.
“The number of planning applications submitted during the first quarter of 2021 in terms of units is down 29%,” it said.
It said while this partly due to Covid-19 restrictions on the construction sector, “it’s also been caused by the uncertainty, the risk and the cost of planning which means many home-builders have had to take the decision to hold back potential applications.”
The association also said the “substantial rise” in Judicial Reviews being taken over developments has delayed schemes and echoed calls by the Irish Planning Institute (IPI) which today urged Government to prioritise resourcing planning departments in Local Authorities with “extreme urgency” in order to transition to a new system.
The IPI’s comments come after Chief Planning Adviser at the Department of Housing Paul Hogan said this week that almost two-thirds of housing projects approved under SHD remain undeveloped.
Hogan told an Oireachtas Committee that there’d been a “significant increase” in Judicial Review cases being taken over SHD developments.
Sinn Féin TD Eoin O’Broin said Hogan had made the “understatement of the day” to say that there had been “some criticism” of SHD.
“Most of us are of the view at this stage that it’s been an absolute disaster both in terms of the lack of commencements of grants of permission, the level of Judicial Reviews and just that general sense in which it’s exacerbated the adversarial nature of the planning system,” said O’Broin.
Under the Government’s ‘Housing for All’ plan published last week, a review into Ireland’s Judicial Review process will take place.
A new division of the High Court dealing with planning and environmental issues will also be set up in 2022 by the Department of Justice & Equality.
A review of the planning code undertaken by the Attorney General, meanwhile, will be completed by December 2022.
The aim of reform under Housing for All is “to primarily to ensure that appellants access the administrative system fully in advance of court processes, and that matters of substance are referred” to the courts.
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