Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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446. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if a change in status in a county development plan of a settlement from small town to moderate and sustainable growth town without any actual increase in population has any impact on the allocation of funding from his Department or its agencies for that settlement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8324/16]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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Under the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, each planning authority’s development plan must set out an overall strategy for the proper planning and sustainable development of the area concerned and be consistent with all relevant and up to date national plans, policies and strategies. Designation of settlements as a small town or moderate and sustainable growth town or other designations within the local authority development planmust reflect the policy and objectives contained within certain statutory Regional Planning Guidelines (RPGs) which consider such matters, for example those dealing with the Greater Dublin area.

Where such enhanced designations are proposed within the RPGs, these would be generally linked to an increased scale of development and population and would be subject to further consideration and detailed local policies in the development plan process.

As regards the specific issue raised in the Question, a change in designation alone without a commensurate change as regards future development expectations would be unlikely to have any implications as regards funding from my Department. It should be noted that funding of local services and infrastructure is also derived from a wide variety of other sources, including other Departments and agencies and the private sector.

In the case of my Department and its broad business agenda, a range of factors influences allocation of funding for local projects in the housing, environmental, community development and other areas depending on general sectoral priorities and the merits of individual cases, taking local planning policies into account, where relevant.