Urban Renewal Act 1998

PART I Preliminary and General

1 Short title.

1.—This Act may be cited as the Urban Renewal Act, 1998.

2 Commencement.

2.—(1) This Act (other than the provisions referred to in subsections (2) to (5)) shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister may appoint by order or orders either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so fixed for different purposes or different provisions.

(2) This Part and sections 7 and 8 shall be deemed to have come into operation on the first day of May, 1997.

(3) Section 13 shall be deemed to have come into operation on the first day of February, 1998.

(4) Sections 18 and 20(2) shall be deemed to have come into operation on the twenty-eighth day of May, 1998.

(5) Section 20(1) shall come into operation on such day as the Minister for Finance may appoint by order.

3 Interpretation.

3.—(1) In this Act, except where the context otherwise requires—

“the Act of 1946” means the Local Government Act, 1946;

“the Act of 1997” means the Dublin Docklands Development Authority Act, 1997;

“authorised company” shall be construed in accordance with section 5(2);

“the Authority” means the Dublin Docklands Development Authority established under section 14 of the Act of 1997;

“company” means a company within the meaning of section 2 of the Companies Act, 1963;

“Dublin Docklands Area” has the meaning assigned to it by section 4 of the Act of 1997;

“elective body” means an elective body for the purposes of the County Management Acts, 1940 to 1994;

“functions” includes powers and duties and a reference to the performance of functions includes, with respect to powers and duties, a reference to the exercise of the powers and the carrying out of the duties;

“integrated area plan” has the meaning assigned to it by section 7;

“local authority” means—

(a) the corporation of a county borough, or

(b) the council of an administrative county,

and the functional area of a local authority for the purposes of this Act is the county borough or, as the case may be, the administrative county of that authority;

“the Minister” means the Minister for the Environment and Local Government;

“rating authority” means a rating authority for the purposes of the Act of 1946;

“reserved function” means—

(a) in the case of the council of a county or an elective body, a reserved function for the purposes of the County Management Acts, 1940 to 1994,

(b) in the case of the corporation of a county borough, a reserved function for the purposes of the Acts relating to the management of the county borough.

(2) In this Act—

(a) a reference to a section is a reference to a section of this Act, unless it is indicated that a reference to some other enactment is intended;

(b) a reference to a subsection or paragraph is a reference to a subsection or paragraph of the provision in which the reference occurs, unless it is indicated that a reference to some other provision is intended;

(c) a reference to any enactment shall, unless the context otherwise requires, be construed as a reference to that enactment as amended or adapted by or under any subsequent enactment.

4 Reference to Act in section 372A(2) of Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997.

4.—Notwithstanding any discrepancy between the terms in which it is therein so described and the terms of this Act as it is now so enacted, this Act shall be the Act of the Oireachtas referred to in section 372A(2) (inserted by the Finance Act, 1998) of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997.

5 Authorised companies.

5.—(1) Each local authority may appoint a company (including a company established by a local authority) to be an authorised company for the purposes of this Act.

(2) A reference in this Act to an authorised company shall be construed as a reference to the company appointed under subsection (1) by the particular local authority to which any provision of this Act in which that reference occurs falls to be applied.

(3) A reference in Chapter 7 (inserted by the Finance Act, 1998) of Part 10 of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997, to a company established by a local authority shall be construed as including a reference to an authorised company.

(4) A local authority may revoke any appointment made by it under subsection (1).

6 Expenses.

6.—The expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

PART II Integrated Area Plans and Qualifying Areas

7 Integrated area plans.

7.—(1) A local authority or, at the request of that local authority, an authorised company, may prepare and submit to the Minister one or more plans (which or each of which shall be known, and is in this Act referred to, as an “integrated area plan”) in respect of an area or areas within the functional area of the local authority and, if the authority or company thinks fit and subject to that subsection, an area referred to in subsection (2).

(2) The area in respect of which an integrated area plan may be prepared may include a part or parts of the functional area or areas of one or more other local authorities if that authority or those authorities consent to that part or those parts being so included.

(3) In preparing an integrated area plan, a local authority or an authorised company, as the case may be, shall have regard to any criteria which the Minister specifies in writing to be criteria to which a local authority or company shall have regard to in preparing such a plan and those criteria may include criteria with respect to the social and economic renewal of the area to which the plan relates.

(4) An integrated area plan shall consist of a written statement and a plan indicating the objectives for—

(a) the social and economic renewal, on a sustainable basis, of the area to which the plan relates, and

(b) improvements in the physical environment of that area.

(5) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (4), an integrated area plan shall specify the physical, economic, social and other issues which, in the opinion of the local authority or company, are relevant to the renewal of the area to which it relates.

(6) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (4), an integrated area plan may, where appropriate, in relation to the area to which it relates—

(a) include—

(i) objectives for the renewal, preservation, conservation, restoration, development or redevelopment of the streetscape, layout and building pattern, including the co-ordination and upgrading of shop frontages,

(ii) guidelines with respect to the heights of buildings and to building materials, density of developments and the treatment of spaces between buildings,

(iii) objectives relating to the preservation of the natural, architectural and archaeological heritage,

(iv) objectives for promoting the development or redevelopment of derelict sites or vacant sites,

(v) objectives for employment, training and education, particularly for persons resident in the area,

(vi) objectives for the improvement of existing residential communities and the development of new such communities, including the development of housing for people of different social backgrounds,

(vii) objectives for the development of community facilities,

(viii) objectives for the improvement of the environment, infrastructure and transportation,

and

(b) indicate the nature and extent of the investment required to achieve the objectives specified in the plan.

(7) In preparing an integrated area plan the local authority or authorised company concerned may consult with such other persons as appear to it to be concerned with or interested in the matter and shall have regard to any submissions or observations made to it by such persons in the course of that consultation.

8 Recommendations in respect of qualifying areas for the purposes of urban renewal tax reliefs.

8.—(1) An integrated area plan submitted to the Minister under section 7 may contain, or be accompanied by, recommendations by the local authority or authorised company concerned that—

(a) a part or parts of the area to which the plan relates ought to be a qualifying area for the purposes of one or more sections of Chapter 7 of Part 10 of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997,

(b) the whole of such an area ought to be a qualifying area for the purposes of one or more of the following sections of the said Chapter 7, namely sections 372G, 372H and 372I.

(2) In making any recommendation referred to in subsection (1), the local authority or authorised company concerned shall have regard to the following matters—

(a) the consistency between the types of development that are likely to be carried out in the area or areas to which the recommendations relate (“the relevant types of development”) and the relevant objectives of the integrated area plan,

(b) the significance of the recommendations for the attainment of the objectives of the integrated area plan generally,

(c) the market conditions in the area or areas concerned as respects the supply of, and current and anticipated demand for, the relevant types of development, and

(d) the nature and extent of any impediments to the carrying out of the relevant types of development.

9 Qualifying areas for urban renewal tax reliefs.

9.—Having considered an integrated area plan submitted to him or her under section 7 and any recommendations referred to in section 8 which are contained in or have accompanied the plan, the Minister may recommend to the Minister for Finance that he or she make, with respect to the matters concerned, an order under paragraph (a), (b) or (c) of section 372B(1) of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997.

10 Remission of rates.

10.—(1) In this section “relevant rates leviable”, in respect of a premises to which this section applies, means—

(a) in case the Commissioner of Valuation determines that the valuation of that premises, after, where appropriate, any apportionment under subsection (6) has been made, is wholly attributable to the erection, enlargement or improvement concerned of such premises having been made, the rates leviable on that valuation, or

(b) in case the Commissioner of Valuation determines that the valuation of that premises, after, where appropriate, any such apportionment has been made, is only partly attributable to the erection, enlargement or improvement concerned of such premises having been made, so much of the rates leviable on that valuation as relates to the part of that valuation that is attributable to that erection, enlargement or improvement.

(2) Having regard to the objectives specified in an integrated area plan, a rating authority may decide to remit, in the years specified in subsection (3), the relevant rates leviable by it in respect of a premises to which this section applies and, if a rating authority makes such a decision, that decision shall operate to require the authority to remit, to the extent specified in this section, the said rates in every one of those years.

(3) The years mentioned in subsection (2) are:

(a) the local financial year (in the Table to this section referred to as the “first year”) next following that in which the valuation of the premises concerned (being the valuation made next after the erection, enlargement or improvement concerned of those premises has been made) comes into force, and

(b) the next nine local financial years (in the Table to this section referred to, respectively, as the “second year”, “third year”, “fourth year” and so on).

(4) The amount (expressed as a percentage of the amount of the relevant rates leviable) by which the relevant rates leviable in respect of a premises in a local financial year shall be remitted by a rating authority under this section shall be the amount specified in the second column of the Table to this section opposite the mention of the year concerned in the first column of that Table.

(5) A remission of rates under this section shall not be granted more than once in respect of the same erection, enlargement or improvement of premises.

(6) Where properties are not separately valued under the Valuation Acts, the Commissioner of Valuation may, on the application of the rating authority, apportion to the premises concerned to which this section applies such part as he or she thinks proper of the rateable valuation of the property in which the premises are comprised.

(7) The making by a rating authority of a decision under subsection (2) shall be a reserved function.

(8) This section applies to premises which are situate wholly within the boundaries of the area to which an integrated area plan relates and which the rating authority concerned is satisfied were erected, enlarged or improved within such period as the Minister specifies by order for the purposes of this section.

(9) The Minister may by order amend or revoke an order under this section (including an order under this subsection).

(10) Every order under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made.

Table

(1)	(2)
First year	100
Second year	90
Third year	80
Fourth year	70
Fifth year	60
Sixth year	50
Seventh year	40
Eighth year	30
Ninth year	20
Tenth year	10

11 Certain reliefs conditional on buildings, etc., being consistent with integrated area plan.

11.—(1) No relief from income tax or corporation tax, as the case may be, may be granted under Chapter 7 of Part 10 of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997, in respect of the construction, refurbishment or conversion of a building, structure or house unless the local authority or authorised company which prepared the integrated area plan concerned has certified in writing, in a manner specified by the Minister, that such construction, refurbishment or conversion is consistent with the objectives of that plan, being the particular plan concerned that was taken into consideration by the Minister in the making by him or her to the Minister for Finance of the recommendations referred to in section 9.

(2) In this section “integrated area plan concerned” means the integrated area plan, within the boundary of the area to which that plan relates the relevant building, structure or house is situate.

12 Monitoring of implementation of integrated area plans.

12.—(1) Where the Minister for Finance makes an order under section 372B of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997, directing that an area or areas shall be a qualifying area for the purposes of one or more sections of Chapter 7 of Part 10 of that Act, the local authority or authorised company concerned shall make such arrangements as it considers appropriate in the particular circumstances for monitoring the implementation of the integrated area plan concerned and, in doing so, the authority or company shall have regard to such guidelines as may, from time to time, be issued by the Minister for the purposes of this section.

(2) A local authority or authorised company, as the case may be, shall, in relation to each year in which it causes the monitoring referred to in subsection (1) to be carried out, make, as soon as may be after the end of that year, a report in writing to the Minister of the results of that monitoring.

(3) In this section—

“integrated area plan concerned” means the integrated area plan, within the boundary of the area to which that plan relates the area or areas referred to in subsection (1) are situate;

“local authority or authorised company concerned” means the local authority or authorised company that prepared the integrated area plan concerned.

PART III Provisions Relating to Dublin Docklands Development Authority

13 Recommendations by Dublin Docklands Development Authority.

13.—(1) Having regard to the objectives indicated in the master plan prepared by the Authority under section 24 of the Act of 1997, the Executive Board (within the meaning of section 17 of the Act of 1997) of the Authority may recommend to the Minister for Finance that he or she make, with respect to the matters concerned, an order under paragraph (a) or (b) of section 367(1) of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997.

(2) In making any recommendation under subsection (1), the said Board shall have regard to the criteria set out in subsection (2) of section 367 of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997.

14 Certain reliefs conditional on buildings, etc., being consistent with master plan.

14.—No relief from income tax or corporation tax, as the case may be, may be granted under Chapter 6 of Part 10 of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997 in respect of the construction, refurbishment or conversion of a building, structure or house unless the Authority has certified in writing, in a manner specified by the Minister, that such construction, refurbishment or conversion is consistent with the objectives indicated in the master plan prepared by the Authority under section 24 of the Act of 1997.

15 Amendment of section 20 of Act of 1997.

15.—Section 20 of the Act of 1997 is hereby amended by the addition of the following subparagraph to paragraph (a) of subsection (1):

“(iii) apart from any review referred to in subparagraph (i), from time to time make such modifications to the plan (not being modifications that would substantially alter the nature of the plan) as it considers appropriate having regard to any circumstances that may arise subsequent to the plan being prepared or being last updated under subparagraph (i);”

16 Amendment of section 30 of Act of 1997.

16.—Section 30 of the Act of 1997 is hereby amended by the substitution in subsection (3) of “£100,000,000” for “£50,000,000”.

PART IV Miscellaneous

17 Grants to local authorities and other bodies.

17.—The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas, make grants to a local authority or any other body concerned with the promotion of the conservation of buildings or structures, for the purpose of defraying, in whole or in part, the expenditure incurred by it in—