The failure of Part V of Planning Act

M

madisona

Guest
Under Part V of the 2000 Planning and Development Act local authorities can acquire 20% of housing in new developments for social and affordable housing.

However the latest figures show once again that actual delivery is well below this. During the first 9 months of 2006 only 1,386 units were acquired although over 80,000 housing units were built, i.e closer to 2% than 20%.

http://tinyurl.com/vxpq2


The blame game is interesting. Local councillers (even FF councillers) and TDs blame the government, saying that Cullen's 2002 amendment allows builders to buy their way out of Part V.

The government totally rejects this charge and says that it is the fault of local authorities.

"The legal obligation under PartV can be satisfied by a cash contribution only if the local authority considers it appropriate taking account of its housing needs. While the developer may propose it is the local authority that decides"

http://tinyurl.com/y49p76

Another thing that I find interesting is that many housing officials are accepting very low cash payments in lieu of housing although this seems to me to be illegal as the Act clearly states that any payment should be equivalent to the value of the land forgone.

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/ZZA32Y2002S3.html

"the aggregate monetary value .......... transferred or paid by virtue of the agreement being equivalent to the monetary value of the land that the planning authority would receive if the agreement solely provided for a transfer of land"

e.g in Cork City a few thousand euro is fairly standard even though the social and affordable waiting lists are over 10,000 and not a single house was acquired under Part V during the first 9 months of 2006.


So my queries are:

Why are so many local politicians blaming the government rather than challenging the policies of their own councils?

Why are payments that are illegally low not being challenged?
 
Another thing that I find interesting is that many housing officials are accepting very low cash payments in lieu of housing although this seems to me to be illegal as the Act clearly states that any payment should be equivalent to the value of the land forgone.

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/ZZA32Y2002S3.html

"the aggregate monetary value .......... transferred or paid by virtue of the agreement being equivalent to the monetary value of the land that the planning authority would receive if the agreement solely provided for a transfer of land"

e.g in Cork City a few thousand euro is fairly standard even though the social and affordable waiting lists are over 10,000 and not a single house was acquired under Part V during the first 9 months of 2006.
Have you any source for your comments regarding Cork City? Have you spoken to any local councillors or officials in the area on this matter?
 
Have you any source for your comments regarding Cork City?

just one example among many
details publicly available from the City Council ref T.P. 03/27889 -

Coleman Brothers Development has just completed a development of 42 appartments in Mariners Hall, Blackrock.

[broken link removed]

This development was subject to a Part V aggreement with the City Council. Following negotiations with the developer the Council agreed to accept the princly sum of €9,128 in lieu of land or housing.

Now accepting cash in the first place is in clear breach of the City Development Plan and the Department of the Environment guidelines. However it seems clear to me that accepting less than €10,000 for land that is worth many millions is also blatently illegal. Regardless of how you feel about Part V it is the law and surely the law should be enforced

Once again the Act says


"the aggregate monetary value .......... transferred or paid by virtue of the agreement being equivalent to the monetary value of the land that the planning authority would receive if the agreement solely provided for a transfer of land"

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/ZZA32Y2002S3.html


As the City Council acquired no housing and no land under Part V during the first nine months of 2006, a time of record house and appartment construction and delivery in the City, this is only one of many such deals.


If anyone can tell me how this deal which I give as an example can be in any way legal please enlighten me.
 
Seems strange all right - Have you tried raising the matter with any local councillors?
 
"Following negotiations with the developer the Council agreed to accept the princly sum of €9,128 in lieu of land or housing."

This does indeed seem strange. Are you 100% sure? Is it possible that the figure is €9,128 per unit? If so, this equates to a total of €383,376.00 which would be intended to represent somewhere between 5% and 15% of the site value, depending on what the housing policy is for that particular planning authority (and after a certain discount as prescribed by law).
 
€9,128 is the full amount that the Council received following the Part V aggreement for this development. While some councillers have made efforts over the years to get the Council to use Part V to acquire housing their public pronouncements have tended to blame the government. I have a suspicion that they might be compromised in that they receive a lot of representations from people on the waiting lists and they depend on the Council for access to information.

For example last year the Council sold land that it owned at Chapel Field and Bantry Park to private developers. Cllr Clancy tabled a motion calling for the council to use Part V to acquire housing in the planned developments on those sites instead of taking the usual cash donation. The Council emphatically ruled it out. Its response below reads like complete gobbledegook to me.


"a written reply was circulated which stated that the Council’s Housing Strategy as adopted by Members does not provide for the provision of Social Housing under Part V of the Local Government (Planning & Development) Act, 2000 in this ward. The provision of affordable housing on these two sites was excluded in the Development Brief in order to promote a socio-economic balance in the area. It is expected that the majority of the units will be purchased by first time buyers from the general area given the likely price range."

However not one of the Councillers who got this justification publicly criticised either the decision to sell the land or the decision to not acquire housing on the sites.
 
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