Planning applications for 70,000 homes awaiting decisions from An Bord Pleanála or High Court

Planning applications for more than 70,000 homes are awaiting decisions after being appealed to An Bord Pleanála or to the courts, the Oireachtas housing committee is to hear today.

The Construction Industry Federation (CIF) will tell TDs and Senators that decisions on almost two years of housing supply are with the planning appeals authority or the subject of judicial review in the High Court.

In a submission to the committee, CIF director of housing and planning Conor O’Connell says that a judicial review case adds between €10,000 and €20,000 to the cost of a home.

Demand

Another body, Property Industry Ireland, will tell the committee that, in the near term, the State could be required to grant planning permission for between 50,000 and 60,000 homes annually to meet demand, a figure much higher than official estimates.

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Both organisations are to make observations during the committee’s pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Planning and Development Bill 2022. It proposes to introduce timelines for applications, new penalties for missed deadlines, longer-term development plans and a restructuring and renaming of An Bord Pleanála.

In his written submission, Mr O’Connell says the State’s identified annual housing needs is put at 33,500 in the Coalition’s Housing for All plan, but this rises to up to 62,000 in other reports.

“The number of houses we need to supply is much greater than we are currently building,” he says.

Mr O’Connell adds that commencements have declined by 13 per cent in the last year and that planning permissions have undergone a “dramatic decline” in the past year.

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He also warns that in urban areas of high demand, many of the permissions granted have been for apartments.

“Apartments have always been a challenge to deliver due to their high delivery costs. It will be difficult to see many commencements in 2023,” he says, adding that there is a preference for traditional housing units, rather than apartments, among the public.

Mr O’Connell says the CIF welcomes the draft Bill given current laws are inadequate.

Objections

“We have seen objections based on the claim from individuals that their houses may be devalued. We have seen objections to housing from organisations or individuals living several hundred kilometres away form the site. We have seen politicians objecting to housing but at the same time calling for more housing,” he says. “This simply cannot continue.”

In his statement to the committee, Property Industry Ireland director David Duffy says “there is currently too much uncertainty, and a high level of risk, in terms of outcomes in the Irish planning system, especially when legal challenges are taken into consideration”.

His statement sets out a requirement to properly estimate housing needs and ensure sufficient land is available given some plans are based on out-of-date population data and unrealistic assumptions of house completion timescales.

“This will only ensure that Government housing targets and Ireland’s housing needs will not be met,” he says.