Fast-track planning rules won’t speed up regeneration of flat complex in Coolock, council officials say

In mid-2018, Dublin City Council began the process of regenerating the Cromcastle Court flats in Coolock near the Northside Shopping Centre.

Built in 1971, the complex’s eight four-storey blocks had 128 homes. In the summer of 2018, tenants noticed large cracks and sagging in the concrete floor, the Journal reported at the time.

By September, the council had reinforced one of the stairwells, and brought a project manager on board to start the process of deciding how to rebuild the complex.

Then it moved pretty swiftly: in November 2019, it did a consultation, and by December 2020 architects were working on designs and preparing a planning application, according to the council website.

Phase 1 of the regeneration would provide about 150 new homes, as part of a larger development of 350 homes, according to a consultation document.

But the council’s been stuck in the design phase ever since.

It’s unlikely to get unstuck this year, a council official told the North Central Area Committee on Monday.

Colette Egan, an administrative officer, said the council will push ahead with a planning application soon, but it doesn’t expect to start building this year.

That’s despite new planning rules meant to fast-track home-building, which councillors at the meeting had mixed views about.

New planning rules

Councils usually use an internal planning permission process, known as “Part 8” to apply to themselves for permission to build their own projects.

That process includes doing a community consultation, and then bringing the plans before councillors for a vote.

But in December 2022, the government passed the Planning and Development and Foreshore (Amendment) Act 2022.

In it was Section 179a, allowing councils to develop social and affordable housing schemes on public land without planning permission – up until the end of 2024.

That’d allow council officials to bypass input from the public and from councillors, if the officials judged that the housing schemes they were planning were in line with the council’s development plan.

The fast-track internal planning process for councils was introduced to speed up the delivery of social and affordable homes.

But some have queried whether consultation was ever the major factor delaying the delivery of homes.

In December 2020, the council had carried out some community consultation for Cromcastle Court and it said it was at the design stage.

More than three years later it is still stuck at the same stage.

Councillors’ objections

On Monday, independent Councillor John Lyons tabled a motion calling on the North Central Area Committee to oppose any plan to regenerate Cromcastle Court using the new Section 179a.

Lyons said at the meeting on Monday that that new internal planning process undermines civic engagement and local democracy.

“In a democratic society, you should have a right to engage in the planning process,” Lyons said by phone on Tuesday.

Without that engagement, the council could miss things that should have been ironed out during the consultation process, he said.

Things members of the public or councillors might have pointed out, had they had a chance to look at the plans.

“We need to kick back against it because it is mad,” Lyons said.

Sinn Féin and Social Democrats councillors backed Lyons’s motion at Monday’s meeting.

Green Party Councillor Donna Cooney said she was concerned that passing Lyons’ motion might delay other projects in the pipeline, under the new legislation.

“I wouldn’t like to see any delay and I’d like this to be built as quickly as possible,” Cooney said.

Labour Councillor Alison Gilliland said that even though the new fast-track process officially removes councillors and the public from the planning process, she was confident that council staff would fully consult the local community.

Gilliland suggested that instead of agreeing Lyons’ motion about Cromcastle Court, the committee could write to the minister to say that “never again can we have a section like this that removes the democratic process”.

Fianna Fáil Councillor Daryl Barron, who chairs the committee, said he’d be happy to write to the minister to express the councillors’ dissatisfaction with the new process.

Lyons’ motion was defeated, but the councillors agreed to write to the minister.

Moot point

Despite the motion’s defeat, the council is unlikely to circumvent the public consultation process and a council vote on the Cromcastle Court regeneration using Section 179a.

Collette Egan, a council administrative officer, said she doesn’t expect they will apply to Cromcastle Court, because the council won’t start building the new homes before the end of 2024.

Council official Julie Mason indicated one possible reason for the lengthy timelines so far. “Obviously we are aware that there have been some delays on this project, most notably with procurement,” she said.

At the meeting, councillors expressed dismay at the delays.

“We’re years into this, it’s an absolute scandal,” said Sinn Féin Councillor Micheál MacDonncha, who had seconded Lyons’ motion. “This shows the complete and utter debacle that is planning when it comes to housing.”

Lyons said residents of Cromcastle Court have had a vague proposal for regeneration hanging over them for years but with very little information available to them.

He tabled another motion calling on the council to run a consultation day for existing residents, which was agreed.

Egan said the council is working on getting 3D images of the designs and hopes to send those out to residents with a newsletter in the next six weeks.

The project will be similar to what was outlined in 2020 but the height will be lower, she said.

The council will proceed with a consultation evening for residents and the community and gather feedback from that within the next five months, she said.

The council officials will revert to the councillors before applying for planning permission, she said. “We wouldn’t make the timeline for Section 179a but we hope that won’t delay us.”

She couldn’t say for sure when the council would apply for planning permission, “which we hope would be sooner rather than later”, she said.

Speaking by phone on Tuesday Lyons said it appears to him that the project was simply low down on the council’s to-do list. “It sat there for so long that it obviously hasn’t been a priority.”