Planning system ‘not to blame’ for housing crisis

Plans to “fast track” large housing schemes to deal with the housing crisis should not be brought forward at the expense of the planning system, according to the Irish Planning Institute.

It said there was a danger the planning system would be “the scapegoat for failures in the housing market”.

The institute was responding to Irish Times reports that Minister for Housing Simon Coveney intends to bring forward plans to speed up the social housing planning process.

The institute warned that following reforms in the past year the planning system cannot be blamed for housing shortages.

Reducing levies

Institute president Deirdre Fallon said measures such as reducing development levies would jeopardise council services while fast tracking applications to An Bord Pleanála was unlikely to be effective.

Ms Fallon said it “would not be possible” for a housing application directly made to An Bord Pleanála to be decided significantly more quickly than an application to a local authority.

“Applications directly to the board would lose the significant opportunities developers have to engage with local authorities that allow issues such as roads and design to be addressed.”

She said the key to speeding up the process was in pre-planning consultations between developers and local authorities, “and local government must be properly resourced to allow these to happen as quickly as possible”.

She added that rather than reducing public involvement, the focus should be to ensure planning authorities and An Bord Pleanála are adequately staffed.

Ms Fallon warned the onus was also on applicants “to engage an appropriate team of professionals who can advise and assemble a planning application which meets all relevant requirements in order to reduce delays in processing.”

The institute also urged the Government to investigate practical means of encouraging housing delivery through the renewal or reuse of existing buildings.

“In many instances, building stock is under-utilised by having upper floors over retail or commercial units vacant. Facilitating a change of use for residential purposes could assist in meeting housing demand and encouraging urban renewal in our cities, towns and villages,” Ms Fallon said.

Prioritising

Separately, Fianna Fáil’s housing spokesman Barry Cowen warned against prioritising announcements over action in dealing with the 135,000-applicant social housing list.

He said he was surprised at the manner in which Mr Coveney’s intentions had been “selectively leaked”. He said his party would push for substantial additional resources for housing in the budget. “Supply is the key issue to be addressed in this crisis. This means more State resources, using off-balance sheet funding and fast tracking planning,” he insisted.

Mr Cowen said: “People are tired of spin, everyone agrees there is a crisis. What we actually need is action backed up by resources.”