Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 80: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government when the guidelines for planning authorities on residential density will be reviewed and updated; the considerations which are informing the review and update; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42584/06]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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My Department published Residential Density Guidelines for Planning Authorities in 1999, aimed at improving the quality in new housing by supporting more compact and sustainable forms of residential development. The thrust of the Guidelines was to promote higher residential density at appropriate locations particularly in conjunction with improved public transport systems.

My Department intends to review the Guidelines with a view to up-dating them next year. The review will take account of experiences to date with the 1999 guidelines, the rapidly changing demographics and settlement patterns, the need for more compact urban development (particularly within the Greater Dublin Area) and the on-going policy of delivering sustainable communities and enhancing quality of life. The revised Guidelines will focus particularly on the quality of new developments. They will also take account of the extensive experience built up since the introduction of the Guidelines in the design, assessment and development of higher density proposals.

In light of the need to provide a wider housing/planning policy context for sustainable urban housing, my Department intends to produce a series of inter-related guidance documents, comprising:

The new draft planning guidelines referred to above;

a new best practice handbook on urban design and housing layouts, which will illustrate how the policies set out in the planning guidelines might be implemented, with examples drawn from current practice;

guidance on design standards for apartments; and

a revision of the 1999 Social Housing Design Guidelines.