Plans to hike council charges on new homes
A hike in the charges levied on those applying to Westmeath County Council for permission for new houses or other construction projects is looking likely.
Announcing public consultation on the rate at which development contribution charges are set, the council’s chief executive officer, Barry Kehoe, said that because of the increasing scale of development in the county - particularly in Mullingar and Athlone - there was need for greater investment in the county.
His proposal is that the development contribution charges for new housing in Mullingar and Athlone increase from €5,500 to €6,000 for a 250 square-metre house, while the proposed charge for other zoned settlements would be €4,700.
However, there is to be no increase in the development contribution for rural one-off housing, while agricultural development would also continue to be charged at the existing rate.
The proposed scheme would also introduce a charge for data centres and revised charges for solar, wind and battery storage developments.
Commercial and industrial development contributions would increase from €26.86 to €32 per square metre.
Mr Kehoe said the council was currently at the lower end of development contribution rates compared with similar counties.
He cited Kildare, where a charge of around €15,500 applies to a 250 square metre house, Meath at €9,000 and Laois, which recently increased its urban charge to €8,000 per unit and its rural charge to €6,350.
Another proposed change would see privately-built turnkey homes acquired by local authorities, approved housing bodies or the Land Development Agency become liable for development contributions. At present, such acquisitions are exempt.
Mr Kehoe said that if a local authority bought 100 houses through turnkey arrangements, it could represent around €300,000 in development contributions that would otherwise be lost.
A proposed increase in the penalty applied to those seeking retention permission for a development would see it rise from 1.25 times the normal development contribution to 1.5 times.
Large ancillary developments such as sheds, garages and garden rooms above the exempt threshold would also be subject to a charge of €23.35 per square metre.
Existing reductions and exemptions would remain, including discounts for protected structures and architectural conservation areas, as well as exemptions for voluntary and community groups, GAA clubs, social housing and certain small renewable energy developments
Setting out the details for members at the council’s September meeting, CEO, Barry Kehoe said the review was necessary because of the increasing scale of development in the county, particularly in Mullingar and Athlone.
Infrastructure
“The level of growth gives rise to a need for more investment in infrastructure and in particular strategic infrastructure projects,” he said.
Among the projects requiring funding are a proposed regional-scale sporting facility in Mullingar, an extension to the sports centre in Athlone, public realm schemes, parks, pitches and open spaces.
Mr Kehoe also pointed out that while the county was to benefit from the recently-announced €7.5m apiece investment in Mullingar and Athlone, there was a requirement that the council come up with €5m in match funding.
In the five years between 2021 and 2026, Mr Kehoe continued, €12.56m had been raised through development contributions - an average of €2.25m a year - with around 70% coming from residential development.
He said the money was ring-fenced for capital investment and infrastructure, with half of the levies going towards transport and drainage and the other half towards recreational and community facilities and amenities.
Projects funded through the scheme have included Athlone Town Regeneration, the Mullingar Enhancement Scheme, works in Kinnegad and Castlepollard and various link roads and footpaths.
‘Deter data centres’
Councillors welcomed the proposed treatment of data centres, solar and wind developments.
Cllr Denis Leonard said he believed the charges should be high enough to deter data centre developments, which, he said, could consume significant amounts of electricity and water without creating substantial long-term employment.
Cllr David Jones said he and Cllr Julie McCourt believed data centres “should not be welcomed into the county”, citing pressure on water and electricity infrastructure.
He suggested increasing the proposed data centre contribution from €40 to €60 per square metre.
Mr Kehoe said the issue could be considered as part of the public consultation and would ultimately be a decision for the elected members.
Cllr Mick Dollard welcomed the proposed change making turnkey developments liable for contributions and asked whether existing turnkey schemes would be affected.
Mr Kehoe confirmed that they would not, as developments which already have planning permission would continue to operate under the 2022 scheme.
The proposed scheme will now be placed on public display for six weeks, during which submissions can be made.
A chief executive’s report will then be prepared and circulated to councillors within four weeks, after which the elected members will have six weeks to consider the proposals.
He said he hoped the revised scheme could be brought back before councillors for a final decision at the December meeting.
The adoption of the scheme is a reserved function of the elected members, who can modify it, reject it or retain the existing scheme.
Any new charges would only apply to planning decisions made after the revised scheme has been formally adopted.
Existing permissions, and permissions granted before the new scheme comes into effect, will continue to be subject to the current development contribution scheme.