This article is from page 20 of the 2008-03-25 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 20 JPG
CLARE County Council is now demanding that developers provide social housing within new housing developments in a new departure in jee) BCAA
Up until now, the local authority has been entering deals where developers would provide a financial contribution to the council to meet their require- ments through Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000.
The contentious “Part V’ provision requires developers to make a contri-
bution to 20 per cent of the site value of the development in order to pro- vide social and affordable housing.
The council’s draft Housing Strat- egy 2007-11 revealed that the council did not provide a single social house through the Government’s conten- tious Part V legislation during the lifetime of its first Housing Strategy introduced four years ago.
The draft — which includes a review of the performance of the existing strategy — shows that the council pro- vided 74 affordable homes through the Part V arrangement.
However, in a new initiative to meet its social housing targets, the council has requested the developers of a 64- unit housing development in Liscan- nor to deliver proposals to provide social and affordable housing.
In its request for further infor- mation, the council tells the Lios Ceannuir Partnership, “The council require both social and affordable housing at a breakdown of 25 per cent social and 75 per cent affordable at this location with units required measuring 1100 sq ft. You are there- fore required to submit proposals to
comply with these requirements.”
This will mean a small number of houses of the development will be social and affordable.
The proposal is already facing op- position from a large number of resi- dents in Liscannor and, in its request for further information, the council states that it has a number of con- cerns in relation to the development.
These include inadequate capacity of the Liscannor wastewater treat- ment system; the design and layout of the scheme; the visual impact as viewed from the road; the location
of a distribution road; and the lack of footpaths to the village.
The council has told the developers, “While it is noted that permission has been permitted for wastewater treatment works, it is as yet not built or operational. The council therefore is not in a position to grant the pro- posed development until such a time as these wastewater treatment works being put in place and made opera- tional.”
The application will become ‘live’ again once the information has been lodged with the council.