Government accused of delaying National Planning Framework update to avoid political fall-out

Last January, Conor O’Connell, director of housing and planning with the Construction Industry Federation, said the “big issue facing us all” in terms of housing “remains the inadequate growth projections contained in the National Planning Framework”, adding that his hope for the 2024 revision was that it would “allow for more zoned land to cater for the increased housing that is required”. File photo: Yui Mok/PA

The Government has been accused of deliberately delaying an update to the National Planning Framework (NPF) until after this summer’s local elections in order to minimise the political fall-out from its publication.

On Tuesday, the Department of Housing said that the latest revision to the NPF, which was due to be published next month and which would see housing targets redefined for each county, would now not emerge until September 2024.

It said that the Government had agreed to defer the approval of the plan until the “full suite of data required to consider matters relating to demographics and population projections” becomes available from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).

However, Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Eoin O Broin said he is in “no doubt” publication has been delayed "until after the election in case to do so would raise political issues".

He also claimed the Government’s approach to collating information from the ESRI would lead to the housing requirements of the country being underestimated.

“I’m very concerned that it looks like the Government is going to once again limit the scope of the ESRI to do a comprehensive study of housing need and that once again it will underestimate the pent-up demand for that housing,” Mr O Broin said.

In response to Mr O Broin’s concerns, a spokesperson for the Department of Housing re-iterated the Government’s Tuesday statement, saying that the revision of the NPF is “informed to a significant degree by census data”, adding that the postponement of the 2021 census due to the covid-19 pandemic had “resulted in the delayed publication of crucial census outputs relating to housing and demographics”.

What's your view on this issue?

You can tell us here

It said the ESRI is “currently finalising” research with a view to providing a draft report to the department in March, which would then “likely” be published the following month.

“In light of the extent of recent demographic change and the implications for future population projections and structural housing demand, Government has decided to defer the approval of a draft revised National Planning Framework until the full suite of data required to properly consider matters relating to demographics and population projections has been received,” the spokesperson said.

Last January, Conor O’Connell, director of housing and planning with the Construction Industry Federation, said the “big issue facing us all” in terms of housing “remains the inadequate growth projections contained in the National Planning Framework”, adding that his hope for the 2024 revision was that it would “allow for more zoned land to cater for the increased housing that is required”.