Changing Apartment Design Rules will cause further planning and construction delays
Changing Apartment Design Rules will cause further planning and construction delays - The Labour Party
- Creates further uncertainty after botched RPZ changes.
- Guidelines last updated in 2022 and 2023
Labour Housing spokesperson Conor Sheehan has said any government plans to further water down design rules for apartments will cause further chaos in the planning system and lead to delays in the delivery of new housing.
Deputy Sheehan said:
“Reports in the Irish Times on Saturday said that government is considering changing design rules for apartment complexes. This will likely include changes to allow for smaller studio apartments, while the report also cites other conditions such as balconies, dual aspect, corridor length or insultation.
“This now creates uncertainty that will lead to a further slowdown in construction, with tens of thousands of planning permissions for apartments already uncommenced or paused from advancing further.
“We know after ten years of planning rule changes under FG and FF that any further meddling will simply lead to a slow down and pausing of upcoming construction plans to be followed eventually by a resubmission of planning permissions to exploit new conditions for greater profitability.
“The previous Minister for Housing, Darragh O’Brien only introduced revised Apartment Guidelines in December 2022 under Section 28 of the Planning and Development Act, that built on those from 2018 and before that in 2015. Further changes were made in July 2023 to provide for Build to Rent transitional arrangements.
“How can the government now propose further changes less than three years later. Continually altering the rules and guidelines just creates policy uncertainty. We’ve already seen that happen with Rent Pressure Zone plans.
“For a decade now developers and investors have continually sought changes to the rules governing rents, apartment planning and construction. We’ve always been told this would result in more construction, but it seems once a concession is achieved, another excuse will surface.
“This comes after the botched rollout of changes to Rent Pressure Zones last week, and the confirmation that the government’s flagship scheme to boost apartment delivery, Croí Cónaithe Cities has failed to deliver more that 20% of the planned 5,000 units. The Minister still hasn’t confirmed when the emergency rent laws will be introduced in the Dáil.
“Creating housing policy on the back of an envelope will not fly. It won’t address the concerns of renters, it won’t bring down the costs and it certainly won’t increase the supply of housing.
“Labour has called on the LDA to take a much more proactive role in the delivery of apartments, and it should now be seeking to take over these urban sites with apartment planning permissions and progress these to construction. The state has the financial resources to do this now, and as Labour outlined in our manifesto, the private sector is failing to deliver, and private investors are seeking higher returns than the rental market can bear.”