Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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329. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government for an update on the publication date for a guide to the provision of allotments and community gardens by local authorities which was first promised to be completed by December 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62641/25]

John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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The planning and provision of allotments is supported via the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended) and the Local Government Act 2001 (as amended). These instruments enable local authorities to identify locations in development plans for allotment development, and to establish allotments as a part of local government’s role in promoting the interests of local communities.

The provision and form of public open space is further addressed the Sustainable Residential Development and Compact Settlements Guidelines, issued as Ministerial Guidelines under Section 28 of the Planning and Development Act (as amended) in January 2024. The Guidelines state that all statutory development plans should include a strategy for the provision of an integrated hierarchy of multifunctional public open spaces and corridors across the plan area that meet the needs of the planned population.

The Guidelines state that public open spaces should be designed to cater for a range of active and passive recreational needs (including play, physical activity, active travel, cultural uses and community gardens and allotments, as appropriate to the context) and to conserve and restore nature and biodiversity. The Guidelines further provide that statutory development include an objective(s) relating to the provision of public open space in new residential developments with a requirement in the development plan for public open space provision of not less than a minimum of 10% of net site area and not more than a minimum of 15% of net site area save in exceptional circumstances.

Part 3, Chapter 4 of the Planning and Development Act 2024, once fully commenced, requires planning authorities to prepare a strategy relating to creation, improvement and preservation of sustainable places and communities within their development plans. This includes the reservation of land for use and cultivation as allotments and prescribed community gardens and the regulation, promotion, facilitation or control of the provision of land for that use.

My Department is in the process of commencing the Act of 2024 on a phased basis, to facilitate the transition to the new legislation across the planning system and taking into account the need to liaise with local authorities, planning bodies and other stakeholders. A detailed implementation plan is available at www.gov.ie/planning. It should be noted that the existing provisions in the Planning and Development Act 2000 will remain in place until repealed and the relevant provisions in the Act of 2024 are commenced.

Further guidance for local authorities on the provision of allotments and community gardens will be progressed subject to the priorities, work programme and commitments of my Department, in addition to resource availability.