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Planning Changes Impacting Housing Delivery: Client Update

It continues to be an uncharacteristically busy summer season on the property front.  

Latest data reveals that An Bord Pleanála is still grappling with a substantial backlog, despite significant additional resources being made available to the body. Over 1,000 planning decisions, impacting the delivery of more than 20,000 new homes, are pending for more than four months. This backlog has been impacting the development community – both public and private sector –  since early 2022. As of May 2024, statistics show that 998 standard planning appeals have surpassed the statutory objective decision date of 18 weeks post-application. Of these, nearly 250 appeals have been pending for over a year, with 21 exceeding a two-year delay. Most worryingly, 54 cases tied to the now-defunct Strategic Housing Development (SHD) process remain unresolved. Despite efforts to address staffing issues and a full complement of 15 Board members now in place, An Bord Pleanála acknowledges ongoing delays (but insists that considerable progress has been made). The Board anticipates further reductions in the backlog throughout 2024, however, this persistent issue raises concerns about the potential invalidity of planning applications for thousands of homes lodged under the older system, which could affect your current and future projects. 

On a related note, Government has initiated a public consultation on the draft revision of the National Planning Framework (NPF). This revision aims to update the NPF to reflect significant policy changes since its initial publication in 2018, such as climate transition, regional development, and digitalisation. The draft revised NPF, open for public feedback until September 12, 2024, emphasises a balanced regional growth approach, focusing on leveraging the assets of all regions across Ireland (although we are interested to hear non-urban homebuilders believe it goes far enough to sustain rural Ireland). Census 2022 data reveals encouraging trends in regional population growth, although a more balanced development between the East and Midlands and other regions remains a priority. 

Key highlights of the first draft revision include: 

  • A continued commitment to city-based population and employment growth, with 50 percent of future growth targeted at existing cities and suburbs. 
  • Enhanced investment in urban structures to support economic performance.
  • A focus on timely delivery of community infrastructure, including education, childcare, healthcare, and recreational facilities. 

The Housing Minister has made all the right noises about the necessity of revising the NPF to cater to Ireland’s current and future housing needs. And he is right; the draft revision serves as a strategic guide for ongoing and future developments, ensuring that planning efforts are aligned with the country’s growth and development goals. For this reason, it is critical that homebuilders of all sizes right across Ireland read the first revision document and make submissions based on their learned experiences in the area and for the types of homes and infrastructure being delivered locally at https://www.npf.ie/.  

Finally, by way of update on the development land market, Cushman & Wakefield report significant activity in H1 2024, with transactions amounting to €400 million. This marks a substantial increase from the €130 million recorded in H1 2023, driven by several high-value ‘megadeals’. However, the market faces challenges, including limited land supply and a decline in institutional funding. It is clear from the data that public bodies are becoming increasingly significant players in the development land market, with local authorities and the Land Development Agency actively acquiring strategic sites. This trend is expected to continue, with several significant deals anticipated before year-end.  

Ian Lawlor
086 3625482

Managing Director 
Lotus Investment Group