Scott questions housing delivery approach
Cllr Lourda Scott questions Government approach to housing delivery: “Zoning more land will not fix the problem”
Greystones Cathaoirleach Councillor Lourda Scott has warned that increasing housing targets for Wicklow will not necessarily deliver the homes needed. Cllr Scott was responding to reports that Wicklow County Council was among just a handful of local authorities invited to meet with Micheál Martin (Taoiseach), Michael McGrath (Tánaiste) and the Minister for Housing to align the County Development Plan with new national housing targets and consider changing RN2 lands to RN1 zoning status.
After questioning the Chief Executive at the November Council meeting, Cllr Scott said serious concerns were raised about the Government’s commitment to addressing the national housing crisis.
“Zoning additional land does not guarantee a single new home will be built,” said Cllr Scott. According to figures from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, over 70,000 homes with full planning permission have not yet started construction. Until Government tackles the reasons behind this, simply changing zoning categories will not speed up the building of homes. In addition to this, tens of thousands of vacant and derelict properties remain across the country. The quickest way to make housing available is to bring these into use, not to expand zoning boundaries yet again.
“We are in a housing crisis, yet the Government refuses to treat it like the emergency it is,” said Cllr Scott. “Talking about zoning more land and increasing housing targets is more smoke and mirrors by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael; good for headlines but not resulting in the delivery of more housing. We also need honesty about how those homes will be delivered, and whether the infrastructure that makes them liveable will be ready in time. In Greystones, we have seen housing delivered at pace over the past decade, but the services to support that growth simply have not kept up.”
Cllr Scott said she was disappointed that despite the Tánaiste’s personal connection to Greystones, investment in infrastructure was not discussed in the meeting with Council officials. “Everyone living in Greystones and North Wicklow knows that infrastructure is playing catch-up. I am constantly contacted by constituents who cannot access GP services, creche places and sporting groups who are bursting at the seams with no space to expand. School places are under particular pressure, with local children this September again finding themselves without a secondary school place. Extensions are slow to progress, North Wicklow Educate Together in Bray still has no permanent home, Newtown Mount Kennedy is crying out for a secondary school to be sanctioned but it isn’t happening. It is frustrating that successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments have allowed this situation to develop over more than a decade in power. So we have the situation where communities like Greystones that have already delivered significant housing numbers, but the State has failed to match that with the necessary infrastructure.
“In the meantime homeless figures continue to rise with the number of homeless children is over 5,000 according to the latest figures. It’s a mess and a disgrace. Yet all the Government can do is look to zoning land,” she added.
FINISH
Copy of email from CE WCC sent 03/11/25
"Dear Members
I wanted to brief you on a meeting that I attended on Thursday last, in Government Buildings on the National Planning Framework. I, the CE Dublin City, the CE Fingal County Council, and the CE Kildare County Council were invited to individual local authority meetings with An Taoiseach, An Tánaiste, Minister for Housing & Local Government and the Minister of State for Housing. No other local authority CEs have been invited to attend such a meeting.
The purpose of the meeting was to discuss where Wicklow County Council was with varying its County Development Plan to align with the new housing targets. As advised to Members at our last meeting work has been ongoing in the background with the planning team to determine what additional measures need to be taken. At our meeting I advised that we hope to advertise the variation by the end of November.
At the meeting on Thursday I outlined the proactive and pragmatic approach that the Members in Wicklow take to zoning, particularly referencing the material contravention that passed through the Chamber recently for Blessington, which granted by WCC would deliver new road infrastructure and housing, however the board refused the application and it subsequently ended up in the High Court and is now granted, resulting in a nine month plus delay in delivery. I outlined how each LAP/LPF has been now included in the CDP. I emphasised the need for all agencies of the state to be aligned and not constrain one another.
I outlined where we were regarding our LAPs and LPF plans and our intention to vary our CDP to take in the new targets. I suggested that in an initial review and variation we could recommend to the Members moving RN2 lands to RN1. We are also looking at lands that fell short of being included in the recent LAPs/LPF that are on the periphery of townlands and are serviced – inclusion of these lands would require the full rigours of the CDP process i.e. SEA/AA screening etc., which would obviously need considerably more time to bring through the full Council. We are actively looking at how that process or call for Expression of Interest might work.
I outlined some of the infrastructural constraints and challenges that the County face:-
congestion on the n11
adequacy of the N81
waste water capacity and drinking water supply
ESB capacity
lack of appropriate train services beyond Greystones
public transport in West Wicklow
public infrastructure such as parks etc
school and creche places
availability of GP services
The Taoiseach and Tánaiste commended the work that the Council had done with regard to Social and affordable Housing delivery via the various delivery methods. They pressed the point that they want this County to assist in addressing the demand for housing both private and public and they welcomed the proposed approach to moving RN2 to RN1 as a first step.
The planning team will be in touch shortly with regard to beginning the variation process.
Kind regards
Emer
Emer O’Gorman | Chief Executive
Wicklow County Council | County Buildings | Wicklow | County Wicklow | A67 FW96
