New levy aimed at preventing owners from hoarding land

The Government is to introduce a land retention tax of £3,000 per housing unit per year on undeveloped housing land to ensure that land-owners do not hoard sites, particularly in the proposed Strategic Development Zones.

The tax will apply to all land zoned for housing for which a planning application has not been received within 12 weeks of its designation as building land. The tax will again fall due if the development is not initiated within 26 weeks of designation.

While such a tax may have only a modest effect on potential homes in the outer suburbs worth £1 million, its impact on landowners in high-density urban areas and along public transport routes where apartments may be developed is obvious.

The Government also intends to fast-track the infrastructure necessary for house-building, including the provision of a special fund of £200 million for non-national roads which assist housing developments.

The Bacon report is emphatic that SDZs will not work in the absence of public transport and it mentions a number of areas in Co Dublin where public transport must be improved in tandem with housing development.

The report notes that the position of the water supply in Dublin "remains difficult", and the Department of the Environment is to commission studies on the feasibility of extracting water from the river Barrow as well as ground-water extraction in Kildare and north Co Dublin.

Speaking at the announcement of the measures, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said the Government would ensure that the infrastructural investment, roads, water and transport would be fast-tracked but he warned that "housing cannot be separated from other investment decisions . . . about schools and health services, about locations for industry".

The Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, also pledged to remove infrastructural constraints on housing development. In terms of speeding up the planning process, he said additional planners and resources would be made available.

The size of exempted developments is to be increased from the current 23 sq m to 40 sq m which will allow a significant proportion of domestic extensions to proceed without obtaining planning permission, thus freeing the planning staff to handle new schemes. Exempted developments will continue to be covered by building guidelines, however.

The Department is to encourage the use of consultants from abroad where necessary and to promote the choice of planning as a career within the education system.

To remove the infrastructure bottlekneck, a series of project offices is to be set up to oversee the delivery of key services. This will involve bringing projects right through the planning process, from land acquisition to environmental impact assessment. The project office will also be responsible for management of construction work and any consultants appointed as well as liaison with public transport providers.

At Government level a new cross-departmental team on housing will oversee the process.