Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 426: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the extent to which he has examined the planning, development and housing needs of smaller towns and villages throughout the country in view of his indications to limit developments at such locations to ten or 15 houses per annum; if it is his intention to provide sewage and water treatment facilities through the public exchequer to meet such scale developments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14706/08]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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Chapter 6 of my Department's Draft Guidelines for Planning Authorities on Sustainable Residential Development in Urban Areas deals specifically with small towns and villages with a population of between 400 and 5,000 people. The guidelines state that there should be no significant development in small towns and villages in the absence of an adopted local area plan. The guidelines also state that local authorities should facilitate individual residential development proposals which would increase the housing stock of the town or village by a maximum of 10% to 15% over the period of a development plan or local area plan: they do not propose to limit development in small towns and villages to 10 to 15 houses per annum. For example, in the case of a town of 5,000 people with an approximate housing stock of 2,000 housing units, the guidelines recommend that the maximum size of any individual new housing scheme proposal should not exceed 300 dwellings over the plan period.

The draft guidelines also state that the provision of infrastructure, such as water and waste water services, should be a key consideration for local authorities when considering proposals for new residential developments. The draft guidelines issued for public consultation on 10 February 2008 and the consultation period closes on 6 May 2008. Copies of the guidelines are available on my Department's website at www.environ.ie.

Insofar as the provision of water and waste water infrastructure is concerned, local authorities are required by my Department to undertake regular assessments of needs for new or upgraded infrastructure in their areas and to determine their priorities in accordance with these assessments. In carrying out the most recent such assessment in 2006, authorities were required to take a range of factors into account, including the adequacy of the capacity of existing treatment plants, the need for continued support for economic activity and the need to address infrastructural deficits in small rural towns. The assessments undertaken by the local authorities were taken into account in the selection and scheduling of the schemes approved for funding under my Department's Water Services Investment Programme 2007 -2009 a copy of which is available in the Oireachtas Library.