Development Plans - Guidelines for Planning Authorities

The Minister of State with responsibility for Local Government and Planning, Peter Burke TD, has today (1 July 2022) issued new national guidelines for the preparation of local authority development plans. The revised guidelines aim to ensure Development Plans take into account the forecasted amount of housing in an area and that sufficient new homes can be built in key areas of housing demand. Development Plans outline where housing, infrastructure and services should be located over a six-year period.

‘Development Plans – Guidelines for Planning Authorities’ is intended as the ‘go-to’ reference manual for all those who may be involved in the often complex process of producing a county or city development plan. While principally aimed at local authority planners and councillors, they will also assist citizens and those involved in the development sector.

The guidelines, revised for the first time since 2007, include:

• a clear approach to ensuring that every development plan includes a sustainable long-term housing strategy, consistent with national housing targets and policies
• a clear method for identifying and zoning lands for new housing, and prioritising lands that can most quickly and appropriately provide new homes. Longer-term development areas and strategic development sites that need more infrastructure work can also be facilitated for development in the future
• confirmation that lands that are serviced and available for new housing construction should be retained as such, rather than be de-zoned
• a shift towards targeting housing output and delivery
• facilitation of development activity in cities, towns and urban areas, which creates compact and integrated communities, aides brownfield regeneration, activating greenfield land-banks for housing and supporting place-making and the growth of sustainable communities. This approach is underpinned by the new Residential Zoned Land Tax introduced under the Finance Act 2021 – which will apply where zoned and serviced land for housing remains undeveloped
• assistance to local authorities and communities in adapting key national polices, like Town Centre First and the Climate Action Plan, into their local development strategy. Formulating specifically tailored local objectives and policies can greatly assist in accessing key funding opportunities to enable local development initiatives.