Unfinished roads and substandard housing appear to be the norm in many new housing estates, according to Fine Gael's Housing Spokesman.

Terence Flanagan has said that the current process is not working and the Minister for the Environment must force local authorities to take in charge housing estates at an earlier stage.

He claimed that while local authorities do carry out some checks to make sure developments are compliant with the planning permission they were granted, their planning enforcement sections are generally under resourced and under staffed so they cannot do the necessary amount of these checks.

"The total number of houses in the Republic for which the life of planning permission expired more than two years previously that have not been taken in charge is 61,127 units in 1,759 housing developments," Mr Flanagan claimed.

-- Advertisement --

"Planning permission had expired more than seven years previously in 782 housing estates. These figures indicate that the taking in charge process is not working."

He explained that Section 180 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 provides that where an estate is completed to the standard required, local authorities must take in charge estates if requested by a majority of owners or occupiers.

Local authorities are currently given seven years to check that developers have finished estates to the required standard. This enforcement period is too long and unworkable, according to the spokesman.

He claimed that Government on this matter has been "grossly inadequate" and has called on the Minister for the Environment to make key changes, such as; reducing the enforcement timeframe from seven to four years; imposing heavy penalties on developers who fail to complete estates promptly; requesting that local authorities monitor all housing developments in their domain and send out information to residents explaining the taking in charge process.

(VB/JM)