Bríd Smith criticises strategic housing development failures
Bríd Smith criticised strategic housing development policy and its impacts on communities, focusing on build-to-rent towers, stalled brownfield projects and the strain on local services. She said the policy was a clear failure, noted it was scrapped in October, and urged state intervention, infrastructure-first planning and a balance between social and private housing.
Strategic housing developments under scrutiny
Bríd Smith highlighted specific projects shown on Primetime, including the Player of Wales Bailey-Gibber in sight on the South Circular Road with proposed heights of 19, 13 and eight storey apartments, and developments along the Grand Canal between Drumna and Bluebell. She warned these build-to-rent schemes would add about 4,000 people to areas already struggling to access schools, doctors and basic amenities.
Local services and community impact
She emphasised the absence of essential facilities - no libraries, no swimming pools - and said planning that proceeds without strategic infrastructure squeezes communities. She argued communities object and pursue judicial reviews only after their voices have been "squashed out," noting judicial reviews are hugely expensive and not taken lightly.
Delivery gaps and brownfield challenges
Bríd Smith said many permissions have been granted but not developed, and questioned how to get projects back on track under Housing for All. She reported that brownfield activation in cities is proving difficult because costs make many inner-city projects not viable, despite the logic from a public transport and services perspective.
Policy mix and state role
She argued for a balance between state-driven social housing, state-supported affordable housing and private sector development, warning the State cannot always be the "last resort" mopping up failures. She cited ongoing work on the Michael scheme, pirate schemes and fire safety, and noted that the minister had been committed to ending strategic housing developments and that they are now being ended.
Calls for planning reform and a town-centre focus
Bríd Smith urged listening to deputies and those working in the field to devise models that will release large-scale apartment development potential, including a town centre first approach for towns and ways to make brownfield projects viable.
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Liseach, last night I watched primetime while I suspect most people here and elsewhere were watching the football and they dealt with the question of strategic housing developments. It was really interesting to watch it because what they showed was that that policy was clearly a failure, a failure of enormous proportions and it's good to see that it's been scrapped in October. However, there have been a plethora of developments allowed to go ahead under the strategic housing development including one they touched on which was the Player of Wales Bailey-Gibber in sight on the South Circular Road which will have heights of 19, 13 and eight storey apartments and all of them built to rent. The same is true along the Grand Canal between Drumna and Bluebell. An extra 4,000 will be added to the population which already struggles to access schools, doctors and basic amenities. No libraries, no swimming pools, no basic amenities. It's crazy that we plan to add thousands into communities and then blame the communities for taking judicial reviews. They don't do it lightly. Judicial reviews are hugely expensive. They do it because their voices have been squashed out. Now it's good to see they're being ended but what about the ones that have already been granted? And do you not think it's time for the State to intervene and say no we can't have this? And particularly to intervene in terms of the planning. If planning goes ahead without strategic infrastructure being in place communities are squeezed out. And that's why they protest. That's why they object. They're not stupid. They're not stupid. They're doing it for the benefit of all. In respect of the deficiencies of private sector operators. We can't be the last, the taxpayer cannot be the last resort that just mops up everything. But we are, and there's a lot of work being done, obviously in relation to the Michael scheme and in terms of the pirate schemes and other issues in terms of fire safety and so forth. And in terms of the strategic housing developments, I don't think the legal capacity is there to retrospectively disapply permissions that were granted. But Minister O'Brien has been committed for quite some time to ending those. They are now being ended. And again, in terms of some of the, what's been striking is how few of them have actually followed through in terms of being developed in many cases. So, I think one of the issues that Housing for All we're looking at and so on, how do we get projects back on track in terms of getting them developed? There's lots of permissions out there. I'm not talking about just STS. Just generally speaking, there's lots of projects out there that haven't been developed at all. And at the moment, show no signs of development. And particularly, like the entire environmental, the entire environmental approach in terms of compact cities, for example. You know, the agenda there would be to activate brownfield sites to create housing opportunities within cities. Okay. But the costs are proving particularly difficult. And the constant refrain back from the sector is they're not viable from a cost perspective. Yet from a public transport perspective, from a services perspective, it makes sense to try and revitalize inner city brownfield sites. But that is proving particularly challenging, to be frank, in terms of getting a model in place that would release the potential for the development of large-scale apartments. And I'm just saying what people who are in the field, who are in the field building, are saying they can't do it. I don't know whether they're right or wrong, whether they're, whether they're, they're saying they can't. And they haven't been. That is reality in terms of brownfield sites. We haven't had the development that we would have wanted over the last time. We're going to look at how we can get town centre first approach in terms of towns. You should watch the prime time program. In cities, in terms of, you've got to listen to deputies, to people who actually are out there in the field trying to get projects off the ground as well. Because all I hear is, well, you know, people are going to build to make profit. I mean, you do need a private sector as well. We don't need houses for profit. We're not going to get to 30,000 or 40,000 houses a year if we don't have a balance between state-driven social housing, state-supported affordable housing, and private sector development as well. We're not going to get there. It simply will not happen. I've got to interrupt now. I think Deputy... You're not going to get there.
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