Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 8 March 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government

Urban and Rural Regeneration: Discussion (Resumed)

Mr. Stewart Logan:

I can answer that because that is very much the essence of Town Centre First. It is about such concentration in a primary sense. It is not divorced from our planning system, as the Chairman is aware. We have issued development plan guidance specifically under section 20 of the Act. There may well be a case for work to go out from the centre to an area that needs expansion but that would not be at the cost of neglecting the core area of the two. Where services are available, it makes more sense in terms of our carbon footprint to concentrate on that area. Planning guidance is quite specific around that and it would be very much keyed in, as it is currently with the urban regeneration fund and will continue to be.