The cost at which affordable purchase homes and cost rental homes are made available by Local Authorities are dependent on a range of variables, such as the location, the scale of the development, the size and type of the homes involved and the level of funding available through the range of schemes put in place by Government.
Development contributions allow local authorities to recoup some of the public costs of servicing land for private development. They provide a mechanism by which developers can contribute to the cost of providing public infrastructure and facilities that benefit development in the area and are expended on public infrastructure defined under the Planning Acts. These include the provision of open spaces, recreational and community facilities, roads, sewers, waste-water and water treatment facilities, drains and water mains, public transport, schools, school sites, broadband and flood relief works.
The adoption of the development contribution schemes is a reserved function of the locally elected members of each planning authority. It is a matter for the members to determine (i) the level of contribution and the types of development to which they will apply and (ii) the expenditure of contributions within the confines of their scheme-conditions. A breakdown of what the development contribution fee is intended to fund is set out in each individual local authority’s development contribution scheme.
The legal basis for development contributions are Section 48 and 49 of the Planning and Development Act 2000. Under section 48, planning authorities must draw up a development contribution scheme in respect of certain public infrastructure and facilities provided by, or on behalf of, the local authority that generally benefit development in the area. All planning permissions granted are subject to the conditions of the development contribution scheme in operation in the area of their planning authority.
Section 48(2)(b) of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended (the Act), provides that a development contribution scheme, applied by a planning authority in respect of its functional area, may make provision for payment of different contributions in respect of different classes or descriptions of development. The level of contribution, and the types of development to which development contributions should apply, including any exemptions from charging in specific circumstances if that is deemed appropriate, are therefore determined at local authority level, in accordance with the powers vested in elected members in relation to the adoption of local authority development contribution schemes.
In addition to general levies, under section 49, planning authorities can create a specific and separate Supplementary Contribution Scheme to part-fund specific infrastructure projects (e.g., rail, roads, LUAS) that directly serve the new development. Guidelines for Planning Authorities on development contributions issued in January 2013.
