‘Logjam’ of housing applications means swift resourcing of planning body essential, committee told

An Bord Pleanála needs swift and comprehensive resources to deal with the current “logjam” of applications awaiting decisions, with an Oireachtas committee hearing the problem is impacting upon residential and student developments.

Conor O’Connell of the Construction Industry Federation said “the whole system is log-jammed at the moment” while Tom Parlon, CIF director general, said: “If we don’t get rid of the backlog we have no way of dealing with the new stuff.”

The comments arose at a Tuesday meeting of the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage, which is continuing pre-legislative scrutiny of the Draft Planning and Development Bill 2022, and featured contributions from the CIF, Irish Institutional Property, Wind Energy Ireland and Property Industry Ireland.

It had earlier emerged that more than 70,000 units are awaiting a planning decision through An Bord Pleanála (ABP) or the courts, equating to nearly two years’ supply.

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Conor O’Connell, director of housing, planning and development with the CIF, told the committee that the CIF estimated – following a trawl of the ABP and High Court websites – that 98 separate Strategic Housing Development applications for residential developments are subject to judicial review, totalling 32,000 units and approximately 1,800 student bed spaces.

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In addition, regarding 93 Strategic Housing Development applications pending determination by ABP, that was estimated to involve 32,000 units and approximately 1,500 student beds. However, the CIF stressed the data was an estimate and may include a number of re-grants.

David Duffy, director of Property Industry Ireland, said allowing for new population data and property obsolescence, the issue likely concerned between 50,000 and 60,000 homes a year, adding: “It does show the need is greater than was previously anticipated.”

There was consensus among the various groups as to the need to swiftly and comprehensively resource ABP to deal with the current backlog of cases, although views differed over statutory timeframes in which planning decisions should be dealt with by ABP.

Pat Farrell, chief executive of Irish Institutional Property, the representative body for institutional investors in Irish real estate, suggested 18 weeks was reasonable for normal planning appeals and that more complex cases would need a longer timeframe. His colleague, Jane Doyle, said for larger projects an 18-week deadline was probably not achievable, adding that 24 weeks would likely be required on some projects.

John Spain of Property Industry Ireland said: “Sixteen weeks should be the default.

“Most appeals and decisions of the Bord, they should be able to be made in 16 weeks provided they are resourced to do that.”

He said vacancies on the Bord and elsewhere in ABP needed to be filled “immediately”.

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“We have a really serious situation regarding delays and it is getting worse as we speak,” he said.

Tom Parlon said: “If the appeal is sitting in an in-tray for 14 weeks because there isn’t enough resources, that is going to be the primary issue for the new Bill.

“Unless it [ABP] has the resources to deal with the complexity and volume of cases coming through, we are still going to have a problem.”

Wind projects

Wind Energy Ireland said a timeframe of 20 to 30 weeks should be achievable when it came to decisions regarding wind projects, but it stressed the urgent need to resource ABP if Ireland is to meet its 2030 decarbonisation targets.

Justin Moran, director of external affairs for Wind Energy Ireland, said it was “fifty-fifty” at this point as to whether Ireland would reach its 2030 offshore wind energy targets. He said the current “best case scenario” was an offshore wind farm operating by 2028, amid a target of between seven and 10 offshore wind farms, while onshore wind capacity needed to double.

“One of the real challenges we have is we don’t yet have a planning system in place to drive those offshore wind farms,” he said.

Both Mr Moran and Danielle Conaghan, of Arthur Cox, also emphasised the need for decisions regarding “repowering” – the potential to replace a larger number of end-of-life turbines with a smaller number of bigger, more efficient turbines.

The CIF had told the committee that “time is money” and vice-chair of the Irish Home Builders Association, Michael Kelleher, said since 2015/16 it was costing an estimated additional €30,000-€35,000 for a standard three-bed semi due to cost increases.

As for the current backlog, he said: “That needs to be dealt with as a matter of urgency.”

Many aspects of the Bill received a broad welcome from the organisations appearing before the committee, which also heard of issues regarding the financial viability of constructing apartments, the need for a presumption of planning in areas zoned for developments, and the need for thorough interim reviews in the event that local or national planning development strategies are put in place for extended periods.

There was also support for moves to reduce and expedite judicial reviews, including, said Mr Spain, confining judicial reviews to issues already raised in the earlier planning phase, adding: “You should not have a second bite at the cherry.”