Proposed changes to the Galway County Development Plan, including a New Core Strategy and Settlement Strategy, are now out for public consultation. The proposed Variation No.1 of the Development Plan will see significant changes to the Settlement strategy and, in particular, to the proposed population and household growth figures for the County up to 2016. Submissions on Development Plan Variation No.1 can now be made to Galway County Council until Tuesday 7th June 2011.
As we have reported previously in our Newsletter, the new Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2010 requires the incorporation of “Core Strategies” in all Development Plans. The Core Strategies should provide a clear evidence-based development framework for Plans, having regard to the National Spatial Strategy and relevant Regional Planning Guidelines.
Galway County Council has recently published Variation No.1 of the current Galway County Development Plan 2009-2015 to incorporate a new Core Strategy and Settlement Strategy in the Plan. The new Core Strategy is based on the population figures and growth targets set out in the West Region Planning Guidelines 2010-2022. These show that the target population of County Galway (excluding Galway City) in 2016 is 185,860, compared to 159,256 in the 2006 Census and 170,100 in 2010 (estimate). The target population growth for the County during the Plan period up to 2016 is now 15,760, which is a very substantial reduction from the assumptions made when the Plan was adopted in 2009.
The Variation proposes to allocate the population growth of 15,760 persons to various towns and villages under the revised Settlement Strategy. The distribution of growth figures focuses on those settlements where such growth can help achieve the strategic targets of balanced sustainable development and strengthen their role as key service towns for a sustainable hinterland population. The primary foci are the Galway Gateway area and the Tuam Hub town.
The proposed population allocation figures indicate a very significant reduction in growth for almost all designated settlements when compared to the current Plan. In this regard, it should be noted that the figures used in the published Variation are based on actual population, rather than the house construction allocations used in the current Plan. A number of settlements are also proposed to be “downgraded” in the overall settlement hierarchy, for example from “service hubs” to “lower tier towns” and from “local service centres” to “small settlements”.
Whilst the County Development Plan does not provide zoning for any lands in the County, there are a number of Local Area Plans for towns that set out land use zoning. Local Area Plans require to comply with the County Development Plan, including the Settlement Strategy, and, consequently, most towns could effectively face a restriction of new housing development during the Plan period. In addition, in settlements where there is no existing Local Area Plan, the new population growth figures will be used in assessing development applications, rather than the house construction allocations in the current Plan.
The statutory procedure for the proposed Variation No.1 allows public consultation at this stage, prior to the final decision of Councillors. The proposed Variation and related documents are available for viewing on Galway County Council’s website www.galway.ie.