LAST UPDATE | 8 Jul

DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL has criticised proposals by Housing Minister’s James Browne that would do away with local authorities’ planning powers to require community facilities and spaces.

It’s understood Browne will bring proposals to Cabinet today to make apartments more attractive for developers by altering certain requirements around minimum sizes and communal facilities, with the number of flats in the pipeline drying up according to recent figures.

These moves will seek to improve the viability of apartment building by seeking to address higher development costs, reducing costs per unit, according to a housing source.

The proposed changes, contained in the Planning Design Standards for Apartments, Guidelines for Planning Authorities (2025) bill, are understood to be aiming for a €50,000 to €100,000 cost reduction per apartment.

However, following reports of Browne’s plans over the weekend, many councillors in the capital were critical, stating that the Minister’s reported plans would override years of planning and work put in by the council.

At last night’s Dublin City Council meeting, an emergency motion was tabled by Labour Party councillor Darragh Moriarty and Green Party councillor Claire Byrne, criticising Browne and the lack of communication with councillors on the matter.

Moriarty, who chairs the council’s Community, Gaeilge, Sport, Arts and Culture Committee, said that any plans to “gut mandatory minimum requirements for vital community and cultural spaces” needed to be examined.

“The City Development Plan obliges developers of sites that are 10,000 sqm or larger to include a minimum of 5% community or cultural space,” he said.

Fianna Fáil representatives criticised their fellow councillors for supporting the motion without any official confirmation from Browne.

Cabinet

The Housing Minister said that previous decisions on housing have left the Government “tied in regulatory knots”, making it “extremely difficult” to build more homes.

Browne said he wants to clear away red tape and address “viability issues”, which he blames on delays in the housing system.

He made the comments as he brought plans to Cabinet to reduce the minimum size of apartments as part of major changes to building rules.

Speaking on his way into Cabinet today, Browne said that apartment building in Dublin has “collapsed”.

“We’ve looked at the housing delivery from last year, it was certainly lower than we hoped, lower than we expected, and it was very disappointing,” he added.

“I’ve analysed why is that the case and while housing delivery has been increasing, apartment delivery in Dublin city in particular has collapsed, and that means we don’t have the apartments, whether it’s for purchase or for rental, that families need, whether to be single people, families or older people to live in.

“Today, we’re looking at that mix of apartments to ensure that they are more viable for people to be able to build and ultimately for people to be able to rent or purchase for their homes.”

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He added: “I think over the last number of years, we’ve made a lot of decisions that I think were very good in isolation, with really good intentions, but when you add them up, what we’ve actually done is tied ourselves in regulatory knots, and it made it extremely difficult to actually deliver the homes that people need.

“You see the frustrations with local authorities. You see the frustrations with developers and builders and see the real frustration of families who I meet every single day of the week, who cannot get the homes that they need.

“[What] I’m trying to do is clear away the red tape as much as possible and also address the viability issues.

“We’re going to do it by way of allowing a redesign in the internal envelope of the building without having to go back for new planning permission,” he said.

“So if there’s a current planning permission, and there’s up to 50,000 planning permissions for housing units or apartments across Dublin, you’ll be able to change the internal mix without having to go back for planning permission.

“We won’t see the delay that some people are afraid of in terms of maybe a developer going back for new planning permission.”

Taoiseach Micheal Martin said the changes in the rules around apartment building are “significant”.

Includes reporting by Press Association