DAIL DEBATE

Planning and Development Bill 1999 Second Stage

Sitting Time

Sitting Date

12:50

17 February 2000

Text:

Mr. Kelleher: I welcome the opportunity to discuss this Bill. In doing so we can encompass the entire housing issue. This is a problem the Government inherited and the Opposition has recently been trying to play politics with the issue. When Fianna Fáil was in Opposition prior to 1997 we spoke ad nauseam about the need to do something to address the escalating problems. In 1997 there was a change of Government and the Bacon report was commissioned immediately. The Government acted on the report by making funding available for the serviced land initiative to provide infrastructure which would open up land for residential development.

That, however, was not enough. Coupled with low interest rates and a booming economy, house prices have escalated. We now find that people earning what would have been considered a very good salary find it almost impossible to enter the housing market. We are trying to address that and this Bill is part of the process.

One of the greatest failures of recent times was the lack of foresight displayed by Governments and the planning departments of local authorities. The most serious problem with regard to housing is the lack of land coming on to the market for residential development. Planners must do more than look at development plans. They must look at demographic trends and address the needs caused by population growth and project those needs into the future. Very few county councils addressed that or even attempted to calculate for the future. They are only addressing the problems now because the Government has instructed them to look again at county development plans so that remedial action can be taken to release some development land on to the market. We can talk about this Bill, interest rates and all the other issues which affect house prices, but until development land is made available by county councils through their development plans we will get nowhere.

This is a comprehensive Bill which consolidates much of the existing planning legislation. It streamlines the planning process. At present applicants approach their local authority and apply for planning permission for a house - probably the most important purchase they will ever make. After eight weeks the council writes to them to request additional information. At the bottom of the letter it is stated that this is a renewal of application and it will be another two months before a decision is reached. Every person who applies for planning permission for a house should be entitled to meet the planner to discuss the issue. There are planners who will not meet the public or their representatives who may be trying to make representations on their behalf. If someone applies for planning permission for a house they are entitled to courtesy from the local authority and should have an opportunity for a 15 minute meeting with a planning official to discuss the merits of his application as opposed to getting a refusal four months after the initial application and having to find another site and to reapply, only to be treated the same way. We must address this. There should be more planning officials and they must be more open, accountable and courteous. Planners are looking at applications every day but behind each application there is a story.

The Bill must address this issue. More resources have been allocated to An Bord Pleanála to speed up the appeals process, but at local authority level, where planning applications are initiated, we must ensure that individual applicants are dealt with in a fair manner. It must be borne in mind that while there is a coherent strategy to planning and while planners have an obligation to ensure sustainable development, individual applicants are only concerned with securing planning permission for themselves.

I have major concerns with the issue of green belts. We should stop urban sprawl. Dublin now transcends Counties Meath, Kildare and Wicklow and there is almost one large conurbation stretching from Bray to south County Meath. However, surely there are pockets of land which are peripheral to the smaller towns and cities such as Cork, Waterford, Limerick and Galway, where services are already in place. With a small bit of vision and foresight the planning officials acting in conjunction with local authority members could rezone some parts of that land. It would help to alleviate urban sprawl.

Almost £100 million is being spent on the provision of a new sewage treatment plant for the whole of Cork city. It will clean up the River Lee - we are told we will be able to swim in it again. However, the towns five, six and seven miles out of the city will not be linked to the plant, despite the fact that there is a line around the city which the council is adamant must be retained as a green belt. Cork is not a large city - the maximum distance from one side to the other is two and a half miles. More rezoning around the city would open up huge tracts of land where sewers and other facilities, such as bus services, access to schools and third level institutions and shopping centres, are in place.

Measures such as this would address problems experienced in Cork and other parts of the country and they would not result in urban sprawl. In their absence the green belt is capitulating to development in a piecemeal fashion, with the result that there is no coherent plan. It means that in the case of Cork there will be a poorly thought out suburban ring around the city centre. Ministers should use whatever powers of persuasion are at their disposal to persuade planners and decision makers to look at this issue.

I am at a loss to understand some of the decisions on rural Ireland made by county councillors and planning officials. The population of the island in 1845 was approximately 8.5 million people, yet the population of Dublin was only 30,000 to 40,000. There was no proper biocycle systems nor rural water supplies, yet people lived in the countryside. However, today despite the provision of modern septic tanks, biocycle systems, sewerage and water facilities, people are unable to get planning permission to build in small rural villages. The factors getting in the way include tree zonings, green belts with a radius of three miles and designated sacred areas. I am at a loss to understand why permission is not granted for the building of an extra 20 or 30 houses in a proper, planned manner in any of the small villages and hamlets throughout the country. They could be served by a biocycle system that could be adapted to a larger sewerage system located elsewhere. This would address the housing problem and the pressure on urban centres.

The inability to get planning permission is resulting in the downgrading of the fabric and social life of rural Ireland. Young people are moving to the cities and towns because rural areas are becoming socially defunct. Surely we can encourage and cajole, if necessary through legislation, the granting of planning permission in rural areas to ensure sustainability and stability. Week after week Members of the House receive representations from people in rural areas dealing with issues of decline, such as the loss of teachers, lack of use of post offices or the necessity to amalgamate football teams because the necessary 15 players cannot be found to sustain teams. Despite Government policies to encourage life in rural Ireland, planners are adamant that people should live in big towns and cities. That issue must be addressed.

I welcome the national development plan. It reflects our current prosperity and signifies that we now have a modern economy. Some £4.6 billion will be spent on the road infrastructure, which I welcome. It will have a huge impact on economic and social life because it will open up the country. At present it takes approximately four and a half hours to drive from Cork to Dublin. It is a national disgrace that a national route can be blocked, as it is at Abbeyleix, where there is a half hour delay for commuting traffic on either side of the town. That is unacceptable.

The national development plan will inject huge sums of money into the economy. Will the construction industry be able to deliver the targets set out in the plan on time? The National Roads Authority appeared before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Environment and Local Government yesterday. The delegation expressed confidence that the targets on the road infrastructure development it outlined to the committee would be met. However, if this is the case, it will be necessary to recruit outside contractors and consultants to assist the Irish companies because we do not have the required capacity. Large tenders will be made over the coming months and years as the plans are implemented, which will take labour from the construction industry. This will force up the cost of labour which will push up house prices. We must be aware of these factors and address them in time. We must also ensure that whatever assistance is necessary is provided to allow outside contractors and consultants assist their indigenous counterparts. The provisions on affordable housing are the most contentious in the Bill. We have all received representations from the Construction Industry Federation, the Irish Home Builders Association and individuals who have expressed concern about them. I hope there will not be confrontation and that a consensus will emerge.

At the end of the day we are trying, in the best interests of everybody, to address housing and ensure house prices do not increase further and that ordinary people have some hope of purchasing their own home. We must take on board their concerns so we do not have confrontations or appeals to courts which could hold up implementation of the Bill for another six months. The issue must be examined and there can be more consultation on Committee Stage if required. We must ensure that everybody is on board when the Bill is passed. Everybody is hoping the Bill will be successful. We cannot blame An Bord Pleanála for the delays in recent years as it was understaffed and under-resourced. However, more resources have been provided and extra members and inspectors have been appointed which is positive. The problem is that if local authorities do not receive extra resources to implement the legislative provisions in the Bill we will not make much progress.

Reference has already been made to development charges. I have yet to get an answer from Cork County Council on how development charges are spent. Developers can be levied between £500 and £3,000 per house depending on the area while often a year or two later no footpaths have been provided, the road has not been resurfaced and no lights have been installed. People have paid for such work, but the council sends the money elsewhere and nobody knows where it goes. It seems to go into some form of central fund. There should be a register in which every development charge is available for public inspection, with a detailed outline of where the money is spent. Even though developers pay the levy, it is the purchaser of the house who eventually carries the can, and it is completely unacceptable that they get no value or perceive they get no value. If the system was transparent and open, with the details published showing where development charges went and whether they were spent, those who purchase homes would feel a degree of security.

We must address the changes in society in terms of local authority and other housing. The make-up of families is changing from the traditional husband, wife and three or four children. Councils and developers, particularly in large urban areas, are building the same type of house - three or four bedrooms - or apartment in each area. In Cork, for example, the local authority may buy an estate or the health board may rent many apartments. Lone parents with one child are shepherded into apartment blocks. When some of these have a second or third child they might have to move across the city to a three bedroomed house. If there was a variation of house type in each location it would not be necessary for occupants to move from one community to another. Such moving does not allow for a cohesive build up of community. Every society likes to have a mix of young, middle aged and elderly people who gain and share experience. However, it is very difficult when there is no housing mix and such a set up encourages a breakdown in society, something which must be addressed in a very serious way. We must move away from building blocks of apartments of similar size and putting in them people who come from the same sector of society and who, if there is a change in family circumstances, must move to a different area and start again in a new community where they might know nobody.

In conclusion, I again thank the Minister and hope he takes the points I have made on board. Overall the Bill is very positive and I hope it will impact on easing the housing situation.