Frank O'Rourke (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I will let the Minister of State get seated. I thank him for taking this Topical Issue matter. I raised this with him in July and there are two elements to it, one of which is to progress the delivery of the second bridge for Celbridge and the other is to look at lands that have been identified in the recent local area plan at Hazelhatch as an area of key and strategic development and to carry out a master plan for same.

I acknowledge positively the work the Minister of State, his colleague, the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy and Deputy Durkan have done with me in supporting this call to deliver the funding to progress the second bridge for Celbridge. That has been positive and significant. The announcement on Monday under the urban regeneration and development fund of funding to Kildare County Council to progress the bridge to route selection brings it up to, and including, the design and tender stage, which is welcome. Celbridge has a population of more than 22,000 people and this is something that we have been seeking for many years at this stage. There is gridlock and it can take up to 45 minutes to move 300 m or 400 m through the town, which is frustrating for people living in the area. While a second bridge is not in place, at least now people can see clearly that there is path to delivering it. Timelines will start to take shape and people will see an end game in sight. That is significant and important for Celbridge to develop and grow as one of the largest towns in north Kildare.

I acknowledge again and thank the Minister of State for his support and help in ensuring that this project is progressed, because when I raised this under Topical Issue matters with him in July, I highlighted the urgency of it and the need for progress in this area. He gave me a commitment on that occasion that this funding stream would open and that he would examine it with his officials and support it as positively as he could. He has done so along with the Minister and Deputy Durkan and I thank him for that.

On the issues of the lands at Hazelhatch, they are located right beside the train station, where the frequency and capacity of services has increased in recent times.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy O'Rourke for raising this matter which provides the opportunity for me to discuss the advancement of housing, community facilities and planned infrastructure in Celbridge area and the continued planned growth of this important town in tandem with the supporting infrastructure and amenities required. This matter was originally tabled for last Thursday and the Minister, Deputy Murphy, had hoped to take it as it is an issue with which he is happy to engage. I welcome the Deputy's positive comments regarding the funding announced for project B for Celbridge and the other counties. Deputies O'Rourke and Durkan raised it with the Minister, Deputy Murphy, and myself on numerous occasions. We recognise the importance of it. We will have development in key areas such as Kildare and Celbridge in this case and we will be bringing forward housing proposals. We also have to provide the necessary infrastructure in order that we provide such development in a co-ordinated and planned way.

The Minister, Deputy Murphy, and the Taoiseach made it very clear when Project Ireland 2040 was announced that four or five funds would be announced later in the year, and that happened in May or June, to back-up Project Ireland 2040 and to make sure our plans are realistic. The Deputy rightly identified the importance of the bridge and the relief road for Celbridge as key areas if we are to be able to develop these lands in a positive way for the town but also to provide housing for people from the area who want to have their own homes or other people who want to live in the area. We are seeking to achieve a proper co-ordinated structure with good planning and infrastructural development, and that is what funding under the urban renewal fund addresses. I recognise Deputy O'Rourke's comments in that respect and the importance of having discussions such as this one in the House to make sure we get all this right. Deputy Durkan and himself have kept us focused on this.

The Deputy's raising of this matters gives me the opportunity to outline where we are at with the development. The Celbridge local area plan 2017-2023 was adopted by the elected members on 17 August 2017 and came into effect on 14 September 2017. It is hard to believe it is a year ago as we had many discussions on that and other parts of the Celbridge plan.

As Minister of State with responsibility for housing and urban development, I welcome the fact that the plan supports the provision of a substantial new housing development in a key urban area close to Dublin. Kildare County Council, in its current county development plan, has earmarked the population of Celbridge to grow by approximately 10,000 people over the next five to ten years. We are discussing that planned development in the coming years but also during the next seven to ten years. We need to plan for this increase and to ensure that Celbridge grows in a coherent fashion with the timely delivery of the new infrastructure that will be needed for this expanded population. That includes the lands that are ready for development today but also we need to ensure we will make good use of our infrastructure, be it bridges, roads or train stations. We planned the development close to those in a joint and co-ordinated fashion.

In particular, I welcome the provisions of the plan enabling future housing growth on the southern side of the town in proximity to the existing commuter rail station at Hazelhatch, as the Deputy mentioned, and around that area. This development strategy is consistent with established national and regional planning policy which encourages new housing accessible to such high quality public transport facilities in the interest of sustainable development.

Importantly, the local area plan also identifies the key pieces of strategic infrastructure that are required to be delivered as part of the planned new housing development areas. The phasing arrangements set out in section 13 of the local area plan include requirements regarding the provision of a new road, bridge, open space and other facilities that will support the new homes to be constructed. Design briefs are also provided for the five key development areas earmarked for future housing development which will further assist in ensuring the construction of quality residential neighbourhoods that are integrated into the existing urban fabric of the town.

As part of the roll-out of the local area plan and in the interests of supporting the integrated development of housing within the local area plan, Kildare County Council is committed to preparing a transport mobility management plan to support the sustainable growth of the town. State agencies, along with my Department and, I understand, the National Transport Authority, will be active in their support of the development of such a plan which will inform future infrastructure delivery. It is very important that we get the infrastructure right.

I understand that Irish Water is in the process of upgrading the Leixlip wastewater treatment plant which serves Celbridge, and is also actively working to address identified constraints in the local wastewater system, in particular the upgrading of the local pumping station. These measures will actively support the ongoing and future delivery of housing in Celbridge.

I mentioned the fund, which enables lands to be developed in a co-ordinated way. Celbridge was successful in that respect.

I will check the status of the communication between the Department and Kildare County Council. The planners and officials in the Department are happy to engage with the Deputy's team in Kildare County Council to develop the lands that are set aside for development now and also to master-plan the next phase of development. That is what we are to do, namely, to do this work in a co-ordinated way. We will be happy to engage around that also. The lead authority is Kildare County Council and it has been engaged in this process under its local development plan during the past year or two. We are happy to engage and build on that in the future.

Frank O'Rourke (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for that positive response on progressing those lands at Hazelhatch. They are defined as a key development area and strategic location.

On the wastewater plant being upgraded, which was commissioned 12 or 14 months ago, the wastewater plant in Leixlip was upgraded to the tune of €32 million. The difficulty now is the infrastructure needed to get the wastewater to that. Irish Water has carried out a number of site investigations and my understanding from working with the local authority is that it hopes to progress the start of the project some time in 2019, which would be timely because it would take some time to put together the master plan.

The key question is how we can get the master plan done. The key stakeholder, the landowners, are willing to carry out the master plan. They will put in all the financial resources needed to do that but they need guidance and direction from Kildare County Council as the lead player in this. We would not expect the local authority to do the master plan. It would not be fair because it is not resourced. It is under pressure doing other local area plans and dealing with planning applications for Kildare that are coming in on a regular basis. We are not looking to the local authority to resource this work on this. The landowners are willing to do all the resourcing of it. They merely want to get the local authority to engage with them, bring them into a meeting and get the process started in terms of the guidelines, being told what to do and being given a template. Once that happens, the process will progress from that point, but Kildare County Council informs me it needs some communication from the Department to get it kick started. As soon as that happens and all those stakeholders engage, my job, and the Minister of State’s, is finished because they will start the discussion and the planning. It will take whatever length of time it takes to complete it but at least it will be commenced. The difficulty is that nothing has commenced between July and now. It would be welcome if that could happen as soon as possible.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I will be brief because I went over the time on my initial reply. Building on Monday’s announcement on the funding for the build to progress some of the infrastructure requirements, it is important that the local authority works quickly now. I hope it does that and engages with all the relevant Departments to move it through the system.

On foot of that and the existing plan, my Department will continue to work with Kildare County Council to support it in developing appropriately in the key locations such as Celbridge and other key urban centres across the country in accordance with adopted statutory plans. We will get the communication going on the master planning of the different areas and developing that out too. I want to be clear, not just in respect of Celbridge but other parts of Kildare also, that as a Minister in the area, along with our officials, we are happy to engage with both the local authority staff but also with the councillors on other zoning issues which they want to tease out and their plans for the county in regard to Leixlip and other places.

In terms of Celbridge, it would be important that our Department and the local authority have those conversations about the planning system. I will certainly engage on that and if resources are required to do the planning and the master planning, that is something we can examine in conjunction, as the Deputy said, with landowners who are happy to do that as part of their duty. Now that some of the infrastructure has been sorted out they are appropriate conversations to have. I will certainly see what is the position on that and make sure we can progress those conversations.

The focus is for all stakeholders, including the council, local businesses, stakeholder estate agencies and the wider community, to be included in implementing the Celbridge local area plan. I confirm that my Department and I will work proactively with Kildare County Council on infrastructure delivery and sustainable urban development. There are many key sites that can be developed in Celbridge to make good use of infrastructure. My own train station in Dunboyne will be upgraded to DART status. It is important that we make sure stations are utilised to their full potential. We will try to get that conversation going as fast as we can.