Strategic Housing Development Planning law will end this year.  Fulfilling a promise in the programme for Government to end the Strategic Housing Development planning law, Minister for Housing and Planning Darragh O’Brien TD, has announced the following arrangements for ending the SHD process:

• Deadline to request a SHD pre-application consultation with An Bord Pleanala is 29 October 2021
• Deadline to submit a SHD planning application, that completed SHD pre-application process before 29^th October 2021, to An Bord Pleanála is 31 December 2021
• Deadline to submit a SHD application to An Bord Pleanala is 25 February 2022

New streamlined planning approval process for large-scale residential developments (LSRDs) will be introduced and restore decision-making to local authorities as follows:

• Local Planning authorities will be required to complete the “final consultation meeting” within 8 weeks of the request.
• Planning authorities will be required to determine LSRD planning applications within 8 weeks of receipt.
• A mandatory 16 week timeframe for decisions on appeals will be a new requirement and will streamline the decision making process in respect of large scale residential proposals.

The new planning process will come into effect on enactment of the Planning amendment Bill in the autumn. The new Large Scale Residential Planning will allow planning applications for large scale residential developments to be dealt with in the first instance by local planning authorities with the possibility of subsequent appeal to An Bord Pleanála.

The proposals are set out in the General Scheme for the Planning and Development (Amendment) (LSRD) Bill 2021 which is available on the Department’s website

LSRD Arrangements

• The main purpose of the new LSRD proposals in the General Scheme is to give early effect to the Programme for Government commitment to wind up the SHD arrangements. In doing this, it is proposed to introduce new local authority arrangements to replace the SHD arrangements.
• The proposed new Large-Scale Residential Development (LSRD) arrangements comprise 3 stages– pre-application consultation stage, planning application stage and appeal stage.
• Planning authorities will be required to complete the “final consultation meeting” within 8 weeks of the request.
• Planning authorities will be required to determine LSRD planning applications within 8 weeks of receipt.
• A mandatory 16 week timeframe for decisions on appeals will be a new requirement for these types of proposals and will streamline the decision making process thereby providing greater clarity to developers regarding timeframes for decisions in respect of large scale residential proposals.
• The definition of a LSRD will be largely similar to that for a SHD, i.e. developments of 100 housing units or more, or student accommodation developments comprising 200 bed spaces or more, or a combination of same.
• The General Scheme also proposes a number of transitional arrangements in relation to the expiry of the SHD arrangements and their replacement by the new LSRD arrangements.
• The LSRD and SHD schemes will both operate concurrently for a certain period of time until the final SHD applications have worked their way through the system at which point the LSRD arrangements will be the sole planning consent system for applications of this scale.

Background to SHD

• The Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016 (the Act) introduced new streamlined arrangements to enable planning applications for strategic housing developments (SHDs) of 100 housing units or more, or student accommodation or shared accommodation developments of 200 bed spaces or more, to be made directly to An Bord Pleanála for determination.
• The SHD fast-track planning arrangements were introduced in the context of the development of the Action Plan on Housing and Homelessness – Rebuilding Ireland (2016) as part of the comprehensive package of measures aimed at expediting the delivery of housing supply, in both the public and private sectors.
• The primary purpose of the SHD arrangements was to speed up the planning decision-making process for well-designed large-scale housing developments on land already zoned for residential development, particularly in the larger urban areas where housing demand is most acute, thereby providing greater planning certainty for developers in terms of the timelines within which proposals for such developments can be determined.
• The SHD arrangements were never intended to be a permanent development consent process, as is clear from the setting of the limited timeframe in Rebuilding Ireland and as provided for in the 2016 Act.