On Monday the Irish Independent reported that local authorities approved 43,000 apartments and homes in housing estates in 2009 and 2010 (not including one-off houses), despite the well known problems of oversupply and overhang in the housing market (see our key housing statistics). A few months ago, the Indo also reported (also see here) on the land zoning bonanza that has occurred over the past couple years, deep into the recession, as local authorities sought to zone land ahead of the introduction of the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2010. It seems that local authorities have been facilitating developers and banks who wanted to protect or inflate the value of their property and land assets ahead of valuations by NAMA or to sneak it under the guillotine of the new Act. The Act and the quotas in the Regional Planning Guidelines will help rein back future zonings and permissions, but there is a question mark over existing permissions and zonings. It could be a case that any attempt to rescind permissions and dezone may lead to cases around injurious affection (compensation for the loss of value by actions of the state). The new windfall/betterment tax of 80% on trading profits and capital gains arising from disposals of land, where it has increased in value due to a status in its zoning status post October 2009, may head some of these off, though its not clear to me about pre-Oct 2009 cases.
One really has to wonder what is going on here? Why are local authorities/councillors helping landowners, property developers and speculators to zone unneeded land and give unneeded permissions at the expense of the state, state agencies and tax payers? The only interests it serves is that of landowners, property developers and speculators. The new Act is going to help, but no doubt vested interests will be at work trying to find ways around it and the local authorities/councillors seem primed to help them. What is needed seems to be a fundamental change in planning culture away from a laissez faire presumption for development to a more measured, regulated system free of cronyism and clientelism. The question is – can local authorities transform and deliver that? Or are local authorities incapable of getting their houses in order to act in the public good, in which case is there now a case for all planning decisions (and not just plans) to be taken from them? Perhaps we’re now at the stage where we need to consider this as a serious proposition, if only on a temporary basis until we have a system fit for purpose.
Rob Kitchin
Ireland after NAMA 
January 18, 2011 at 8:54 pm
De-zoning should not attract compensation. The Planning and Development Act is clear that there is no presumption in law that zoned land will remain zoned in subsequent plans. (see section 10(8))
Of course de-zoning has been so rare it is unlikely that this has been challenged and clearly much property finance has been predicated on an assumption of continuous zoning. Do the bankers know something we don’t?
January 18, 2011 at 10:13 pm
Good article.
Local councillors countrywide appear to be totally indifferent to proper planning.
Perhaps the fact that ours is a small country,and politics seems to be controlled by a dynastic system which ensures that many good people never get an opportunity to serve-means that cronyism(and sometimes straightforward corruption)invariably rules OK.!
January 20, 2011 at 10:36 am
Two things will always determine how planning decisions are made until they are changed.
The first is that the Councilors with the power to make the Development Plan are voted in by their local electorate, on local agendas, with a mandate to do as much for the people of their small area as possible, and little else. This is all that local electorates care about, and if councilors don’t put their interests first they won’t be re-elected. Most people either don’t know or don’t care how much power making the development plan gives to Councilors, because if they did they wouldn’t keep voting in the same people every election. This coupled with the fact that the provisions of the Development Plan are the first and ultimately most important test of a planning application means that local planning decisions remain out of sync with the requirements of national and regional planning strategies.
Secondly, the fact that Local Authorities no obtain such a large portion of their revenue from commercial rates mean that they are positively inclined to give all commercial applications a positive response. This also creates an adversarial relationship between Local Authorities as they are in competition for these developments and the revenue streams that accompany them.
This is local democracy at work and it has been exacerbated with the move from Government to Governance over the past decade, as power has been shifted away from Dublin to the local authorities. So what is the solution. I am personally a believer in Local Government and feel it can do a lot of good. however it has been proven that our Local Councilors do not have the capacity or will to run the planning system properly. Therefore some of their power in relation to Development Plans must be removed. However we should not remove councilors completely as they are the peoples representatives (for better or worse) and the Development Plan should be for the benefit of the people after all.
In my opinion the first step should be to tackle the Development Plan issue. The new P+D Act does to some extent but not far enough. All plans should be fully assessed not just in relation to Regional Plans but in relation to all principles of good planning and sustainable development. At the very least a viable Development Plan would give the professional planners a chance to make correct decisions.
http://galwayplanningblog.wordpress.com/
January 20, 2011 at 10:46 am
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