{"id":643562,"date":"2026-10-03T11:48:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T11:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/643562\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T11:48:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T11:48:13","slug":"its-infuriating-developers-blame-planning-delays-for-four-year-average-wait-to-build-homes-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/643562\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s infuriating\u2019: Developers blame planning delays for four-year average wait to build homes \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

In July, Vanisland Limited, a subsidiary of the well-known developer Ballymore<\/a>, applied to Kildare County Council<\/a> for a large-scale development of new homes<\/a> in Leixlip<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The 272-home development at Confey is a mixture of homes and apartments, along with a childcare facility, three commercial units and a restaurant\/cafe. <\/p>\n

It is part of the Confey master plan for a town which is in the Dublin commuter belt, but also the home of Intel<\/a> for many decades. <\/p>\n

In support of its planning application, Vanisland Ltd submitted 1,000 pages of documents to Kildare County Council.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s only the start of it, according to Michael Prenty, the director of residential operations at Ballymore and chairman of the Irish Home Builders Association. <\/p>\n

\u201cGetting planning from the local authority takes at least 14 months and then you might have an appeal to An Coimisi\u00fan Plean\u00e1la<\/a> which has time lines on it,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou could be a year and a half to two years in the planning process alone.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Central Bank published a stark warning last month<\/a> about the planning process, which is putting attempts by the Government to deal with the housing crisis in jeopardy. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor homes completed so far in 2026, the average duration from lodgement of planning application to completion was four years, twice as long as a decade ago,\u201d the report states. <\/p>\n

\"MichaelMichael Prenty, the director of residential operations at Ballymore Group. <\/p>\n

It went on to state that in 2016, house building took between 21 and 26 months based on housing type; those completed so far in 2026 took 44 to 50 months.<\/p>\n

One-off houses and apartments now take around two-and-a-half times as long as in 2017 and scheme housing nearly twice as long. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe rise is gradual and continuous rather than a break at any single date,\u201d it stated. <\/p>\n

Between 15 and 20 per cent of schemes completed in 2024 went to An Coimisi\u00fan Plean\u00e1la and they took an average of 13 to 14 months to process. The Central Bank did not measure how long it would take for schemes that go to a judicial review. <\/p>\n

The bank\u2019s report chimes with the experience of Ballymore and other housing developers, big and small, Prenty says. <\/p>\n

\u201cAll the schemes we are building at the moment took at least a year and a half to two years to get through planning,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Planning system shifts to \u2018culture of facilitation rather than restriction\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

A decade ago, it took a year to get through planning, even if it was appealed, and then six months to build the houses. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou didn\u2019t have as many reports, you didn\u2019t have as many meetings,\u201d Prenty says of the changes that have occurred in the intervening 10 years. <\/p>\n

Large scale residential developments (LRD) require three meetings with local-authority planners; the first happens after six weeks and then the builder must go back \u2013 it all takes time, Prenty says. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole thing is strung out and the resources aren\u2019t there in the local authorities. A lot of the senior planners went to An Coimisi\u00fan Plean\u00e1la or out to the private market. There\u2019s huge demand for planners.\u201d <\/p>\n

Getting builders to speak on the record about housing developments is challenging. <\/p>\n

You purchase your land, you get your design for your houses, you then apply for planning permission and the local authorities are under stress and duress to assess planning applications<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Conor O\u2019Connell<\/p>\n

Not many of them are as big as Ballymore and they are reluctant to speak publicly about planning delays as they do not want to be seen criticising planning authorities that they are dependent on to get their developments built. <\/p>\n

David* is part of a small family firm specialising in building houses on brownfield sites \u2013 land previously earmarked for development but which has lain idle or been underused. They are currently building a small developments of 30 houses in south Dublin. <\/p>\n

We do \u201csmall bespoke sites,\u201d says David. \u201cThey\u2019re not for everybody.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Central Bank report did not come as a surprise to him. \u201cThe planning system is particularly bulky; it\u2019s not at all streamlined,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

He is particularly exercised over a two-and-a-half-year delay in getting planning permission from the then An Bord Plean\u00e1la (now An Coimisi\u00fan Plean\u00e1la) for a housing development of 30 homes in south Dublin. <\/p>\n

The application became caught in the slipstream of the turmoil that affected the board in 2022 when the then deputy chairman Paul Hyde resigned<\/a> after questions were raised about his work.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0An Bord Plean\u00e1la chairman announces retirement after months of turmoil at planning authorityOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The disruption prompted a breakdown in board decision making on big housing and infrastructure files. New laws followed to overhaul An Bord Plean\u00e1la and planning.<\/p>\n

David says he spent that time in the planning process \u201cover nothing\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a case of \u2018Nimbyism\u2019 \u2013 complaints of an observational interest, not of substance,\u201d he says, referring to the \u201cNot in my back yard\u201d label used to describe residents opposed to developments in their locality. The delay cost his business interest payments of \u20ac320,000 on a \u20ac4 million bank loan, he says.<\/p>\n

He acknowledges that the Government has sought to clean up the mess by clearing the backlog of planning applications and reconstituting An Bord Plean\u00e1la as An Coimisi\u00fan Plean\u00e1la, but does not believe the changes have been effective. <\/p>\n

He also says frustration with utility providers such as electricity and gas companies is proving to be a drag on getting residential developments built. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou are dealing with 11 or 12 different utilities. A bit of joined-up thinking for utilities would be helpful too,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

John*, who works for his family building firm in west Cork, says they bought a site in the 1990s and secured online planning permission for 60 housing units. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Peter Mullan of Coimisi\u00fan Plean\u00e1la on rebuilding after Paul Hyde\u2019s exit: \u2018Morale was low\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s now 2026. We are still trying to complete that housing estate because of wastewater capacity concerns,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

He says \u00daisce \u00c9ireann has confirmed that there is sufficient wastewater capacity; however, Cork County Council is still requesting additional information which only \u00daisce \u00c9ireann can provide, adding that the two bodies \u201cdon\u2019t seem to be seeing eye to eye.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very frustrating. We\u2019re there as a contractor based in a rural west Cork town with 100 people employed, and there are people in the town crying out for housing. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey are looking for us to deliver it and we can\u2019t do it. It\u2019s infuriating. The last house in our town was built in 2021 or 2022 and there\u2019s been nothing since.\u201d <\/p>\n

Construction Industry Federation director of housing, planning and development Conor O\u2019Connell says local authorities are taking 12 months to assess developments with 100 homes or more. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou purchase your land, you get your design for your houses, you then apply for planning permission and the local authorities are under stress and duress to assess planning applications,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Most of Ireland\u2019s big targets on housing, infrastructure and families are stuff of fictionOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

At the same time, they are being asked by the Government to reopen their local authority area plans to zone for more housing. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey have a large number of planning applications hitting their desks all at the same time,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo compound things, there was a recruitment campaign by An Coimisi\u00fan Plean\u00e1la and by the Office of the Planning Regulator, so we have a shortage of planners. That\u2019s not being critical; it\u2019s just a fact.\u201d <\/p>\n

In response, An Coimisi\u00fan Plean\u00e1la says the statutory objective period to decide an large residential development case is 16 weeks, though the timeline may be extended if there is a statutory requirement to seek further information as part of the appeal process.<\/p>\n

The commission says all LRD cases last year were decided within the 16-week timeline. To date this year 56 LRDs have been decided, with only one missing that deadline. The one that missed the deadline did so by two days.<\/p>\n

* Not their real names<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In July, Vanisland Limited, a subsidiary of the well-known developer Ballymore, applied to Kildare County Council for a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":643563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[75,11593,72,37992,61,60,19380,30555],"class_list":["post-643562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-an-coimisiun-pleanala","tag-ballymore","tag-business","tag-construction-industry-federation","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kildare-county-council","tag-new-homes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}