Green Party Planning Minister Ciarán Cuffe today announced the publication of a Draft Guidance Manual for Managing and Resolving Unfinished Housing Developments. The manual outlines a range of actions aimed at addressing problems in unfinished estates, with a particular focus on relieving urgent difficulties for affected residents.

Minister Cuffe reiterated the Government's ongoing commitment to taking strong action in relation to unfinished housing developments and added that, "following publication of the National Housing Survey results, the focus must now be on action to be taken quickly to effectively tackle issues on unfinished housing estates through the provision of practical measures and a collaborate approach."

The Manual is being published today in draft format so that the public can contribute to the process of delivering solutions. Minister Cuffe urged people with an interest in this issue, particularly residents of unfinished developments, to have their say on the Draft Guidance Manual. The closing date for receipt of submissions is 4pm on Friday, 14 January, 2011.

The Manual was prepared by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the high-level Expert Advisory Group comprising all key stakeholders, including the Voluntary Housing Sector, NAMA, Irish Banking Federation, Planners and Engineers, and chaired my John O'Connor of the Housing and Sustainable Communities Agency. The Expert Advisory Group was established following the publication of the National Unfinished Housing Development Survey in October 2010.

The Expert Advisory Group is due to publish further recommendations to the Minister on tackling this issue in early 2011.

* The draft manual is available to download by clicking here (pdf file)
* The National Unfinished Housing Development Survey is available to view and download here.