Construction Industry Federation and its member body Irish Home Builders’ Association call for 60,000 housing units per annum and an increase in residential land zoning by local authorities.

The federation has made its submission on the draft National Planning Framework to the Minister for Housing this week.

The Construction Industry Federation and its member body, Irish Home Builders’ Association, have called for an increase in housing targets to 60,000 units a year and an increase in residential land zoning by local authorities, in its response to the draft National Planning Framework.

The National Planning Framework is the top tier of planning policy in Ireland and is critical to the provision of adequate housing and infrastructure in Ireland. It sets out national housing targets and impacts the amount of infrastructure required for the growing population. The draft framework, which was published in July, closed for public consultation on September 12th.

Conor O’Connell, Director of Housing and Planning with the Construction Industry Federation said:

“After analyzing several reports on population growth, migration levels and housing demand we need to plan for new housing output of a minimum of 60,000 units per annum.

“The current zoning policy is based on population projections from 2012 to 2016, when the population was experiencing a low level of growth. Ireland has since experienced a period of rapid growth and a severe shortage of housing that will continue if zoning policy is not suitably updated.

“The recent Housing Commission report, the ESRI Structural Housing Demand report and the draft National Planning Framework all acknowledge the need to plan for far more housing than previously envisaged.

“The draft National Planning Framework has stated that we need at least 50,000 homes per annum relying on a set of data from the ESRI on population growth targets. We are concerned that this is already out of date given recent population growth estimates from the CSO and the European Commission’s Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs.

“To achieve this target of at least 60,000 units per annum, we need to forward plan immediately for higher growth scenarios to ensure there is sufficient flexibility in our assessment of zoned land requirements and infrastructure such as water, electricity and transport.

“Local authorities have a key role to play in helping us provide more housing by varying their development plans to zone more residential lands and to assign more resources to planning and housing.

“Uisce Éireann must be provided with more capital to construct water and wastewater treatment plants.”

The Construction Industry Federation’s reply to the revision of the National Planning Framework centres on two key asks:

1. All local authorities must immediately vary their development plans to provide more zoned land that is serviceable for housing with a focus on lands for housing near transport corridors. This should be done in the next 12 months.
2. That extra capital is allocated by Government to Uisce Éireann to provide critically needed water infrastructure for new housing.

Conor O Connell said: “We cannot continue with overly restrictive land zoning and servicing policies based on outdated population growth projections.

“We must provide flexibility in our assessment of how much land to zone for residential development to cater for our growing population. There are too many issues preventing zoned land from being activated for residential development including lack of vital services, such as water and electricity, connected to the land.

“Our members consistently report significant delays in the advancement of infrastructural works to enable housing developments. It is essential for housing provision that utilities such as water and electricity are planned for concurrently, as we cannot build houses without infrastructure connections in place. It is therefore vital that adequate funding is allocated for utilities and transport, so we can build a minimum of 60,000 units per year.”

-Ends-

Editors Notes:

The Construction Industry Federation response to the revision of the National Planning Framework was assisted with expert analysis in economic growth, planning and housing from EY, and Tom Phillips and Associates.

Read the submission here.

**Conor O’Connell, Director of Housing and Planning with Construction Industry Federation, is available for interview.

For media queries contact:

Meabh Smith
CIF Communications Director
0871338978