One person's legal challenge stalling the building of 852 homes in Dublin

Representatives of LDA due before the Oireachtas Housing Committee for a quarterly update on affordable housing

Delays significantly add to the cost of housing projects. Picture: Larry Cummins

One person's legal challenge is stalling the building of 852 homes in Dublin, an Oireachtas committee will hear on Tuesday.

Representatives of the Land Development Agency (LDA) are due before the Oireachtas Housing Committee for a quarterly update on affordable housing. 

In his opening statement, seen by the Irish Examiner, chief executive of the LDA John Coleman will say that one major issue in homebuilding is delays caused by legal challenges. 

He will cite an ongoing judicial review of plans for the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum, which has delayed building.

"Of course, setbacks are a common occurrence in development, not least when it comes to securing planning permission. While the LDA experiences delays in the planning process just like the rest of the industry, we are encouraged by recent progress in this regard.

"Judicial reviews can be initiated and the mechanism can sometimes result in a small number of existing homeowners effectively delaying the delivery of homes for a large number of people. 

"The LDA is not immune from this. 

"One single individual, for example, has initiated a judicial review challenge against our Dundrum Central scheme at the former site of the Central Mental Hospital, which will, unfortunately, delay the delivery of 852 affordable homes in an area of extremely high need.

"This is despite no objections arising from residents’ groups due to extensive community consultation we carried out. 

"Such delays significantly add to the cost of projects and we are hopeful that the pending enhancements to the planning laws will help reduce such delays in future."

Last summer it was reported that Mark Leonard, who is behind a company called Centurion Homes, had taken a court case against An Bord Pleanála's decision to approve the LDA's plans. Court filings show that that case is due back to the High Court in February.

Mr Coleman will also tell TDs and Senators that the LDA now has "at least 5,000 additional homes delivered or under construction".

"This trajectory has positioned us to target the delivery of 14,000 homes by the end of 2028," he will add.

He will say that an LDA mapping exercise had identified 83 sites that could potentially yield around 67,000 homes, but "the reality is that there are significant constraints in releasing, accessing and developing much of this land". 

In December, the Irish Examiner reported the LDA would pay €3.1 million for a site in Wilton in Cork. 

The six-acre site, adjacent to the Wilton Shopping Centre and near Cork University Hospital and UCC, had been earmarked for the construction of 350 homes by the LDA.