Development levies extended

Much to the annoyance of several of members, Cavan County Council has secured an extension to its existing Development Contribution Scheme (DCS), which was due to expire next month.

Payable for certain developments in the event of a grant of planning permission, the current DCS, which came into effect from July 9, 2013, was due to run for just three years. But in an addendum to the June agenda meeting of elected members, the executive proposed an extension of the scheme to the end of the year, December 31.
Under the current scheme, the council had estimated to generate income from planning of over €5.5 million and projected the construction of almost 500 housing units in line with the Cavan County Development Plan.
Contributions are used by councils to construct capital projects for which no other source of funding can be made available. However, last year alone some €3.1m-plus in development contributions were still outstanding. The planning authority did though recoup in the order of €1 million per annum in development contributions in the recent past.

'Disincentive’
The extension to the DCS was proposed by Fine Gael’s Winston Bennett, and “reluctantly” seconded by Fianna Fáil’s John Paul Feeley who labelled the current system a “disincentive to investment” in the face of property tax, and a “burden on those who wish to provide themselves with their own home”.
His fellow party colleague Shane P O’Reilly had earlier lambasted the delay in proposing a new set of DCS regulations.
Director of Services Ger Finn, responding on behalf of the executive, expressed the hope that the new DCS could be ready to go up for public consultation in the next couple of weeks, with the aim of being finalised by October.