Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)

Comhgairdeas leat ar do phost nua, a Cheann Comhairle.

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. The Government is committed to creating sustainable towns and cities and ensuring quality living spaces for our community. We will introduce new urban design guidelines for building new housing developments, require all new apartments and other high density developments to comply with improved minimum design standards and ensure better provision is made for proper education and community facilities where new communities are created. Already, the Department is progressing a wide range of policies and measures to support the creation of sustainable communities within a high quality environment. We are currently revising and expanding the residential density guidelines for planning authorities which were published in 1999. The review takes account of experiences to date, our rapidly changing demographic and settlement patterns and the need for more compact urban development, especially within the greater Dublin area, to enhance quality of life.

The new planning guidelines on residential developments will facilitate the creation of sustainable communities through effective planning and the provision of necessary supporting services and amenities. They will achieve the most efficient use of urban land through housing densities appropriate to the locations involved and the provision of supporting infrastructure, especially transport, and set high standards for space and facilities. On foot of the review, it is intended that new draft planning guidelines on residential density will be published. We will also publish a new best-practice handbook on urban design and housing layouts with examples drawn from current best practice.

The work outlined follows the recently published housing policy statement, Delivering Homes, Sustaining Communities, published in February 2007, which places the provision of housing within the wider context of the development of sustainable communities. The Government is firmly committed to driving up quality standards through better regional and local area planning, improved guidance and leading by example. The private and public sectors must work together to improve not just the quality of housing developments themselves, but to ensure that developments add to the character of areas, reinforce the vitality of local communities and provide the services and amenities residential development requires. I look forward to an active public engagement on the draft policy proposals I have outlined above as they are rolled out during the year.

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