Councillors seek to protect their role against Land Development Agency

The organisation representing city and county councillors will today (Tuesday) register its objections to the Government’s Land Development Agency, and seek amendments to the legislation establishing the body.

Representatives from the Association of Irish Local Government (AILG) are to make a presentation to the Oireachtas Housing Committee, and tell TDs of their concerns about the Bill, which is currently before the Oireachtas.

The group has tabled 14 suggested amendments to the Bill.

While the commercial State-sponsored body has been up and running since September 2018, the Bill would establish it on a legal and statutory basis. The agency says its goal is to work with State bodies and local authorities “to make more effective use of State lands, providing a stable, sustainable supply of land for housing”.

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However, the opposition of the councillors’ group – which numbers many Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael councillors in its leadership – is a significant challenge to the legislation.

They say that the agency could usurp their role in providing social housing, and that the Bill should be changed to protect this function, to prevent the agency from seizing local authority land and to protect their primary role in the planning and development of their areas.

“For more than a century local authorities have successfully been the providers of social housing for the Irish population,” the group’s submission to the committee states.

“Our local authorities have a strong record of achievement in the housing area, and the AILG are adamant that we must continue to ensure the primacy of local authorities in continuing to be the lead provider of social and affordable housing ,and that they are central to any public housing delivery programme.”

It continues: “As a national representative body we can never support or accept any removal of reserved functions and powers from our elected members, and we would ask that this section of the Bill be removed.”

Funding

The association will argue that “provision needs to be made to exclude local authorities” from the agency’s powers to seek the compulsory purchase of land.

The councillors’ body will also warn Oireachtas members that the agency’s activities should not result in councils losing funding to provide social housing.

It says that the payment of grants from central government to the agency “could well result in a negative funding impact for our member authorities”.

The association will say its members want to take “a strong position on the primacy of the local authority as the housing and planning authority”.