Campaign group urges tighter planning laws

HOUSE builders should be stopped from dodging a legal obligation to ensure 20% of new estates contain social housing, campaigners demanded last night.

Focus Ireland said too many developers were taking advantage of planning laws allowing them to pay local authorities in lieu of providing cheap or affordable homes on private estates.

Yesterday, the campaign group claimed that up to 14,000 social homes should have been built since 2002.

Focus Ireland advocacy director Caroline McGrath called for planning rules to be tightened, saying 43,000 applicants were now on town and county councils’ waiting lists.

“Local authorities can insist that up to 20% of land in most housing developments is reserved for social and affordable housing.

“Yet, the numbers of homes being built is way behind planned targets. Last year 1,371 social homes were built against a proposed target of 3,865. That’s 35% of the planned figure.”

Councils lacked the expertise and resources needed when getting developers to provide social or affordable homes so pay-offs were an easier option, the campaign group said.

Ms McGrath said the Department of the Environment was adding to the problem by being too slow in giving its approval to social housing schemes.

The law on social housing comes under part five of Planning and Development Act 2000 and was designed to encourage mixed communities with affordable homes for the needy.

But in 2002 the law was changed to give developers the option of getting round their obligation by giving land or money to councils for social housing instead.

Ms McGrath said developers had handed councils €25m to date but few homes were being built with the cash.

Focus Ireland chief executive Declan Jones said: “If we want to increase the numbers of social homes then the acceptance of cash transfers from developers in place of land or housing must be avoided.”

Meanwhile, the Construction Industry Federation yesterday denied that builders were relying heavily on cash payments to get around their obligations.

A spokesman said: “The €25m sum is very low, considering the overall amount of development since the legislation kicked in.

“But we agree with the Focus Ireland’s finding that many local authorities do not have the expert staff needed to implement the (social housing) quota.”

Councils faced a shortage of quantity surveyors and legal staff required to negotiate with builders how much land they owed or how many houses they should build in lieu of it.

Fine Gael’s Fergus O’Dowd criticised the Government for the lack of housing for people on low incomes. He said Environment Minister Dick Roche ought to ensure councils are given the necessary staff to ensure that homes are built under the planning laws.