Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage James Browne TD has confirmed today that the Government has approved the drafting of a new bill to expand the role and remit of the Land Development Agency (LDA) in delivering homes across Ireland.
The Land Development Agency (Amendment) Bill will: Expand the Compulsory Purchase Order powers of the LDA. Give expanded scope to the LDA to assist local authorities in delivering housing. Enable the LDA to provide support to the local authorities and the Housing Activation Office in master planning, and infrastructure provision in new towns and districts. Enable the Agency to deliver a percentage of private housing as well as social and affordable housing. Government will have power to direct Commercial State Bodies to dispose of land to the LDA.
Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, James Browne TD said: “I am happy with the progress of the Land Development Agency to date and the scale and pace of delivery which has ramped up momentum. You can see it on their sites across the country.”
“The LDA has a critical role in housing delivery under Delivering Homes, Building Communities, and will be delivering over 17,000 homes by 2030.”
Under the bill the LDA will be able to operate in more areas including in towns with a population of more than 10,000 – instead of 30,000 at present.
It will be able to use its expanded CPO powers to enable the delivery of housing and mixed-use developments to include a mix of residential, commercial, cultural, institutional or entertainment and enable LDA involvement in urban development zones.
The bill proposes to allow the LDA to support the Department, local authorities and work with the Housing Activation office in master planning, infrastructure provision in Transport Orientated Development/Urban Development Zones, new town and districts.
In terms of proposals around tenure mix in LDA delivery, currently the LDA do not have the option to build any private housing on State lands. In the proposals coming forward, they will be able to build up to 30% private in the cities of Dublin and Cork, and up to 50% private elsewhere. These percentages are not considered a commitment to build that percentage of private homes available for purchase but introducing the option for the LDA to plan for private homes in their developments if it is seen as appropriate for their proposed schemes depending on the area in question.
This change will enable an important tenure-mix of homes in future LDA developments across the country and will also allow the LDA to recycle capital, meaning monies from sale of private homes will be able to be reinvested to develop more housing.
