Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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296. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the action he will take to ensure that priority is given to residential developments that are within 15 minutes' walk or 15 minutes morning peak hour public transport accessibility of a high density employment cluster, defined as 500 workers per hectare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42081/20]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The ‘15 minute city’ has gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic.  The idea of the 15 minute city has been championed by the Paris mayor, Anne Hidalgo, to promote communities in which people can live and access most of their daily needs within 15 minutes of active transport, i.e. walking or cycling.  This approach has been interpreted within the Regional Spatial and  Economic Strategy (RSES) for the Southern Regional Assembly area as 10 Minute City and Town Concepts, in particular Regional Policy Objective (RPO) 176.  A 10 Minute Towns – Accessibility and Framework Report has been produced to support the RSES RPO.

Planning through various national polices and regional polices has been supporting more compact, mixed use and self-sustaining forms of urban development in recent decades.  Ministerial guidelines on residential density have been in place since 1999 and subsequent supplementary Ministerial Guidelines, including the Sustainable Residential Development in Urban Areas 2009, have sought to increase residential densities in close proximity to city and town centres on existing or planned public transport links.

This includes optimising residential densities within and adjacent to well-connected area of high intensity employment which employ more than 500 workers per hectare.  The formation of mixed use higher density residential/high intensity employment clusters in Dublin Docklands and Sandyford are a reflection of these Ministerial Guidelines, as enabled through the relevant city and county development plans.

My Department is further assisting the formation of well-connected, mixed use and compact urban clusters in other cities nationally via funding mechanisms such as the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF) which includes areas such as Cork City Docklands, Limerick Georgian Core and Waterford North Quays under Call 1, with funding also being considered for a range of projects that would support the 15 city/10 minute town concept under Call 2 of the URDF.  I hope to soon announce details of successful applications.

Against this backdrop, and to support the implementation of the NPF objective to encourage compact growth and quality urban environments, I will be updating the Sustainable Residential Development in Urban Areas guidelines in 2021.  This would be an opportunity to provide updated guidance on a number of issues related to the formation of 15 minute cities/10 minute such as access to transport, local services and amenities, via the application of Transport Orientated Development (land use and transport integration) principles.