Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will address the national planning framework, NPF, first, if that is okay, because my understanding was that the question particularly related to one-off housing. I will, however, specifically reference the issues the Senator spoke about.

First, to clarify, the national planning framework does not either remove one-off local needs planning for rural houses or impose rezoning or de-zoning population caps. The national planning framework provides important national rural planning policies supporting the growth and regeneration of our rural areas, including new housing for local communities. National policy objective, NPO, 15 of the NPF fully supports the concept of sustainable development of rural areas by encouraging growth and arresting decline in areas that have experienced low population growth or decline in recent decades, such as the Senator spoke about.

NPO 15 is supplemented by national policy objective 19, which aims to ensure that a policy distinction is made between areas experiencing significant overspill development pressure from urban areas, particularly within the commuter catchment of cities, towns and centres of employment, and other remoter and weaker rural areas where population levels may be low and or declining.

I consider that these NPF objectives represent a balanced approach, consistent with long-standing Government policies on sustainable development and previous planning guidelines. Under the sustainable rural housing guidelines of 2005, planning authorities are required to frame their development plan policies in a balanced and measured way that ensures housing needs of rural communities are met, while avoiding excessive urban-generated housing.

The NPF objectives, together with the 2005 guidelines, therefore, enable planning authorities to continue to draft and adopt county development plan policies for one-off housing in rural areas in a structured and considered manner.

Turning to the anticipated population growth within individual counties, this issue is central to NPF strategy which projects growth in our national population of over 1 million people by 2040. This projection is based on demographic and econometric projections undertaken by the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI. To assist in the preparation of individual city or county development plans, over much shorter six-year timelines, an NPF roadmap circular was issued to all planning authorities in 2018, setting out projected county population ranges for both 2026 and 2031.

Importantly, this approach includes minimum and maximum population growth parameters, which provide flexibility to accommodate factors such as lower or higher migration correlated regarding national economic conditions. These projections provide a targeted base for each planning authority to undertake the statutory development plan review process, some of which are now under way across the country.

The NPF population projections provide a coherent approach whereby, in its development plan, each planning authority has clear population growth parameters to consider on the basis for strategic decision making in the formulation of its core strategy, settlement strategy and housing policies generally. Regarding zoning policies, each planning authority retains the decision-making function whereby county level population target ranges may be translated into geographical zones for housing. Planning authorities must consider such decisions in accordance with national guidelines, regional policy and good planning generally, in particular ensuring there is a strong alignment to the facilities and services needed to support local communities and sustainable employment.

To the core of the point raised by the Senator, I believe he is absolutely right. It is correct to say we should be clustering housing, insofar as we can, in and around existing urban settlements to give capacity but also to unlock the potential in our town centres of buildings that are already there. That is core to what the Government is trying to achieve through the "town centre first" policy, where there is access to services, they are walkable and cycleable, give capacity to our shops and are connected into waste water infrastructure.

In answer to the Senator's question, it is important that local authorities strike that balance between achieving good capacity and building the capacity of our town centres. I believe that is the point the Senator raised.