THE BANKING and property collapse occurred because “lobbying by vested interests” was allowed to prevail, and inappropriate zoning is still continuing, undermining the property bank held by Nama, An Taisce, the national trust for Ireland, has claimed.
It is suggesting house-swapping where only a few houses are occupied in ghost estates, and also calling for abandoned construction sites to be made safe and allotments for growing vegetables to be created in abandoned sites in urban locations.
The heritage and planning watchdog organisation said that the “lax” planning regulations which in great part led to the crisis has not been addressed.
It calls for the properties held by Nama to be rated “according to sustainable planning principles”.
“Bankers secured light-touch regulation while landowners secured a planning system that favoured development interests over the public interest,” An Taisce heritage officer Ian Lumley has told members in a summary of An Taisce’s views on the future and effectiveness of Nama in its most recent newsletter
Following a request, these views were submitted to an advisory committee on Nama last week.
Calling for a list of all properties held by Nama to be published, Mr Lumley said An Taisce’s view was that there must now be transparency. “Concealment of the Nama portfolio would undermine public confidence,” he said, adding that the viability of Nama would be undermined without proper planning reform.
Lax financial regulation, lax zoning and a lax planning permission system led to the crisis, he said. While financial regulation was being addressed, the lack of planning controls was not being dealt with and was continuing.
“This is leading to excessive and loose zoning provisions, many contravening national and regional as well as local development plans.
“The more development continues on non-zoned or inappropriately zoned land, the more the asset value and development potential of the Nama portfolio is undermined,” Mr Lumley wrote in his summary of An Taisce’s submission.
Calling for property to be rated according to sustainable planning systems as set down in the 2002 National Spatial Strategy, An Taisce has called for “no development value” to be attached to holdings which did not consolidate towns and villages.
Peripheral ghost estates, the majority of which were poorly serviced and unsuitable for social housing, had to be addressed.
“In certain cases, where some units have been purchased but the development is still unsustainable, house-swapping may be an option,” he wrote. This would entail moving residents to more central locations, a spokesman explained.
An Taisce is also calling for unfinished and unsafe developments to be secured. It wants this to be achieved by the filling-in of trenches and the removal of other dangers. It also wants allotments to be allowed on abandoned urban sites.