The Irish Planning Institute (IPI) has commented on the publication of “Rebuilding Ireland” the Government’s Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness. 

The Institute has expressed concerns with the intention to direct housing applications for 100+ units to An Bord Pleanála. IPI President Deirdre Fallon said “We are unclear how applications to the Board for larger housing applications will be dealt with and if they can be decided significantly more quickly than an application to a local authority. 100 units would also appear to be quite a low threshold. How pre application discussion at local level and decision making at Board level will operate in practice is also unclear. It further removes communities from their local authority and development plan. The emphasis on reducing the use of oral hearings is also of concern.”

Discussing vacancy Fallon said “We support measures to promote change of use of upper floors to residential in suitable locations however there must be consideration of residential amenities and other community facilities and infrastructure such as car parking and the means of monitoring this is not clear.”

Fallon continued “We welcome the commitment to resourcing An Bord Pleanála and local authorities and the timeline for a root and branch review of the planning system to be undertaken and completed by Q1 2017 and also note the proposal for an implementation plan arising from the An Bord Pleanála review report.

According to Fallon “We acknowledge that State lands offer the potential for housing however there must be a focus on using lands in the right place. The focus should continue to be sites more centrally located in the city or town including brownfield sites, infill development and derelict sites. While this may be more complex, its benefits include sustainable, compact development in line with smarter travel, improve urban quality by developing derelict and underused sites and achieve social integration.”

Fallon noted “The Irish Planning Institute has previously identified the provision of infrastructure as a barrier to the delivery of housing and hope the proposed supports address this. As noted in the Action Plan planning permission is in place for 26,886 homes in the Dublin region. Infrastructure and development finance remain the main impediment to housing delivery.”

Fallon concluded “We support the focus on the National Planning Framework and linking infrastructure and housing into the long term and a much needed focus on online planning. We need to create sustainable communities and quality housing with the necessary social services with greater recognition that some groups have specific housing requirements (for example student housing or older people). These must be located in the right place where people can integrate into a community. There are clear pressures to deliver on new housing but we must be careful not to repeat the mistakes of the past. Rather we must continue to focus on the right development in the right place with the right infrastructure, to ensure quality and long-term viability.”