Development plan · Cork County Council
Cork County Development Plan 2022–2028 – Volume One: Main Policy Material
The council's development plan written statement: its strategy, policies, objectives and development standards. Variations adopted since are not in this text.
Cork County Council · 2022–2028 · 564 pages
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- 101 4.9.13 The Council will use various mechanisms to resolve issues of title including Compulsory Purchase Orders to resolve long standing vacancy/ dereliction, however, it must be recognised that such powers are less efficient to progressing redevelopments than on a willing partnership basis. 4.10 Building Height and Mix 4.10.1 Since the last Plan there has been new National Guidelines on Urban Development and Building Height (2018) which is part of a package of measures to deliver more compact forms of growth, additional housing units and more integrated and sustainable travel patterns. The Plan continues its strategy of no restriction on building height across the County. In accordance with Government policy to support increased building height and density in locations with good public transport accessibility, town centres and major towns as identified and promoted for strategic development in the National Planning Framework and Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies, increased building heights of 6+ storeys may be appropriate. 4.10.2 The Guidelines also promote general building heights of at least three to four storeys, coupled with an appropriate density, in locations what would be defined as town centre areas, and which would include suburban areas. The Guidelines also require a review of Strategic Development Zones, such as Monard in light of new policy approaches. This will be a priority during the Plan period. 4.10.3 However, there is a need to recognise that in many towns across the County, building heights of greater than 6 storey buildings, envisaged in the guidelines, would not generally be appropriate given the existing streetscape, the sensitive historic environment and may also not be viable. 4.10.4 The issue of building height and the mixture and sequencing of uses are also a new concept at National level in the delivery of viable and vibrant places. Measuring density for mixed use schemes requires the use of a plot ratio tool to ensure adequate amenity standards are achieved. Mechanisms such as phasing will be considered to manage the redevelopment of a large site blocks where it is necessary to activate supporting services (such as shops/ community facilities, education facilities etc.) in a timely manner. 4.10.5 The suitability of a site/ settlement to accommodate increased building heights will be informed by its location within the settlement hierarchy, proximity to public transport and by priority sites identified as part of the Council’s approach to active land management. The Council supports innovative design approaches to blend higher buildings or building elements within established streetscapes. The use of set-backs for additional storeys above the established parapet line, for example, are encouraged, in order to ensure new development contributes positively to the character of a street and does not result in undue residential impacts such as overshadowing or overlooking. 4.10.6 The building height of urban settlements in County Cork generally range from 2-4 storeys. Therefore, any new applications for buildings greater than 4 storeys shall address the development management criteria set out in paragraph 3.2 of the Urban Development and Building Heights Guidelines (2018) to enable the Planning Authority assess the application comprehensively in relation to its local context. 4.10.7 In locations deemed suitable for a comprehensive redevelopment (e.g. may include clusters of taller buildings as a new urban district and which are in excess of 2ha) proposals should be supported by appropriate master planning exercises prepared by the applicant to deal with movement, public realm, design and other issues dealt with at a neighbourhood scale rather than at individual site scale and should also address the development management criteria set out in paragraph 3.2 of the Urban Development and Building Heights Guidelines (2018). 4.10.8 All proposals for residential development, particularly apartment developments and those over three storeys high, shall provide for acceptable separation distances between blocks to avoid negative effects such as excessive overlooking, overbearing and overshadowing effects and provide sustainable residential amenity conditions and open spaces. A minimum clearance distance of 22 metres, in general, is required, between opposing windows in the case of apartments up to three storeys in height. In taller blocks or in instances of challenging topography (steep level difference), a greater separation distance may be required having regard to the layout, size, and design. In certain instances, depending on orientation and location in built-up areas, reduced separation distances may be acceptable. In all instances where the minimum separation distances are not met, the applicant will submit a daylight availability analysis for the proposed development. County Development Plan Objective HOU 4-8: Building Height and Amenity Support the provision of increased building height and densities in appropriate locations within the County, subject to the avoidance of undue impacts on the existing residential amenities. In mixed use schemes, proposals will include details of the sequencing of uses to enable the activation of supporting services. New development greater than 4 storeys will be required to address the development management criteria, as set out in paragraph 3.2 of the Urban Development and Building Heights Guidelines (2018). GO TO CONTENTS
- 102 4.11 Delivering Increased Density 4.11.1 Cork County Council is committed to delivering higher densities across its settlement network to create vibrant, diverse settlements which support communities and businesses. 4.11.2 The issue of viability has been raised as a deliverability issue during the Plan making process. The Council acknowledges that viability is dictated by a combination of hard costs (material costs/ labour) and soft costs (VAT, local authority contributions etc). These are complex and multifaceted issues which are largely outside the scope of the Plan. 4.11.3 Cork County Council seeks to show leadership as both a policy maker and housing agency of the State in its commitment to deliver increased densities and compact growth. 4.11.4 The following land activation measures are highlighted to deliver increased density across the County as follows: • The acquisition of land/ buildings and the provision of serviced sites, • Revised Contributions to stimulate brownfield land/existing building re-use; • Revised Parking standards to reduce financial burden for certain land use categories; • The use of Funding Streams and Grants to invest in town centre streets and buildings; • The use of statutory powers to address vacancy and dereliction. • Design advice in the form of development briefs/ guidance to aid developers in planning application preparation. GO TO CONTENTS
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- 105 CHAPTER 5 RURAL Aim of Chapter Ensure that the housing needs of all rural communities including island communities, which have many distinctive needs from those in urban areas are identified, and that policies are put in place to ensure that the type and scale of development in rural areas, at appropriate locations, necessary to sustain rural communities is accommodated.
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- 107 CONTENTS Contents 5.1 Introduction 108 5.2 National and Regional Policy 108 5.3 Rural Housing Guidelines 110 5.4 Identifying Rural Area Types 111 5.5 Greenbelts 117 5.6 Environmental and Site Suitability Requirements 120 5.7 Ribbon Development 122 5.8 Use of Occupancy Conditions and Sterilisation Agreements 122 5.9 Holiday Home and Second Home Development 122 5.10 Small Scale Rural Business and Tourism Initiatives 123 5.11 Replacement of Rural Dwellings 124 5.12 Renovation or Replacement of an Uninhabitable or Ruinous Dwellings 124 5.13 New Uses for Disused or Derelict Farm Buildings 124
- 108 5.1 Introduction 5.1.1 Geographically, Cork is largely a rural county with 61% of the population of the county living in the open countryside and smaller towns and villages of less than 1,500 population. While some of this rural population works in the rural area, there is also a significant reliance on urban areas for employment both within Metropolitan Cork and the county towns. (see Chapter 8 Economic Development). 5.1.2 The communities living across the towns, villages, countryside, and islands of the county are socially, economically, environmentally, and functionally intertwined. Towns and villages provide many of the goods, services, educational and community facilities and economic opportunities to sustain their hinterlands. The countryside and coastline provide many of the resources, assets, and amenities to sustain the wider population and economy, including agriculture, fishing, quarrying, tourism, renewable energy and the biodiversity and natural environment needed to sustain all of the above. The Council recognises that supporting sustainable rural communities requires a holistic approach, one which recognises the functional relationship between settlements and their hinterlands. The careful management of all our rural assets is a key component of this plan, to ensure that these important assets are protected and will continue to support the communities who rely on them. 5.1.3 This Chapter is based on the following important principles: • The natural environment plays a key role in mitigating the effects of climate change. Careful management of the countryside / rural areas is required in order to adapt to these challenges and to ensure the protection and enhancement of biodiversity and ecosystem services, protecting natural flood plain and flood storage areas, and by enhancing green infrastructure networks and linkages to support resilience in natural habitats and their species. • Climate Change adaption measures and the delivery of development plan renewable energy objectives will rely on rural areas / the countryside having the capacity to accommodate renewable energy projects. • Sustainable management of rural areas is required in order protect the rural economic base, rural livelihoods, natural resources, and other land uses. As the agriculture base continues to restructure, strengthened roles for rural areas in tourism, recreational assets such as greenways and blue ways reinforce the need to appreciate the role of the natural environment in sustaining rural communities. • Communities in rural, coastal and island areas have many separate but distinctive needs from those in urban areas and this should be recognised in developing planning policy to strengthen and sustain vibrant rural communities. The special land use requirements of agricultural areas and the open countryside should also be accommodated. • The balance between housing delivery in our towns, villages and rural areas needs to be carefully balanced so as not to undermine the long-term viability of the individual towns and villages ensuring in particular that key local community facilities are retained and continue to be viable. This will also allow for more sustainable travel patterns to be maintained and improved on into the future. • Population loss and economic decline are key issues for some rural, coastal and island areas, and planning policy should be directed at reducing these trends where feasible. • Island communities need particular support in their economic, social, and cultural development to ensure equality of opportunity with the mainland. • Many coastal areas are an important tourism asset and have limited capacity to accommodate large-scale development and their environmental assets should be protected. Other coastal areas are more robust, but they can still be threatened by inappropriate development. 5.2 National and Regional Policy Project Ireland 2040 – National Planning Framework 5.2.1 The National Planning Framework (NPF) targets a new pattern of development for the country which is seeking to strengthen the regions by building stronger cities and towns, promoting compact growth and a greater alignment between where people live and work. 5.2.2 The NPF acknowledges that there are many examples of vibrant rural communities across Ireland in towns and villages, as well as within the open countryside and on our islands, while also acknowledging the challenges being faced by rural communities. The role of rural towns as local drivers for their surrounding area, supporting homes, jobs, clusters of services and transport hubs is recognised. The NPF recognises that changing settlement patterns have resulted in increased building vacancy within many towns and villages, adversely impacting on the vitality of these settlements. NPF objectives seek to support the sustainable development of rural areas by encouraging growth and arresting decline in areas that have experienced low population growth or decline in recent decades and by managing the growth of areas that are under strong urban influence to avoid over-development, while sustaining vibrant rural communities. It also seeks to target the reversal of rural decline in the core of small towns and villages while simultaneously delivering sustainable reuse and regeneration outcomes and encouraging the provision of new homes in towns and villages. GO TO CONTENTS
- 109 5.2.3 A central aim of national policy is to recognise the role of the rural countryside as a lived-in landscape and focusing on the requirements of rural economies and rural communities based on “agriculture, forestry, tourism, and rural enterprise while at the same time avoiding ribbon and over-spill development from urban areas and protecting environmental qualities”. Accordingly, there is a continuing need for housing provision for people to live and work in Ireland’s countryside. The NPF states that careful planning is required to manage demand in our most accessible countryside around cities and towns, focusing on the elements required to support the sustainable growth of rural economies and rural communities. 5.2.4 The National Planning Framework recognises that the significant urban generated pressure in commuter areas is impacting on the character and cohesion of some rural areas. In other less accessible rural areas it has been challenging to retain and/or develop community or social facilities and local infrastructure as populations decline. NPO19 in particular requires a distinction be made between areas which are under urban influence and those which are not. In the former the NPF indicates that the provision of single housing in the countryside should be based on the core consideration of demonstrable economic or social need to live in a rural area, coupled with siting and design criteria, having regard to the viability of smaller towns and rural settlements. In rural areas that are not under urban influence, consideration should be based on siting and design criteria and the viability of smaller towns and rural settlements. Social or economic need are not defined in the NPF. Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy (RSES) 5.2.5 The RSES reflects the NPF position that our countryside “is and will continue to be, a living and lived-in landscape focusing on the requirements of rural economies and rural communities, based on agriculture, forestry, tourism, and rural enterprise, while at the same time avoiding ribbon and over-spill development from urban areas and protecting environmental qualities”. 5.2.6 The RSES states that when allocating for future growth in the Core Strategy of each Development Plan, Local Authorities should have due regard to the guiding principles, settlement typology and the appropriate policy response taking account of a number of factors which includes the need to provide attractive alternative options to rural housing within smaller towns and villages. 5.2.7 Similar to the NPF, RPO 27 of the RSES seeks to protect the viability of smaller towns and villages while allowing rural housing in areas under urban influence based on demonstrable social, economic need and siting and design criteria. RPO 27 also makes provision for housing on the basis of local exceptional need in areas under urban influence. In areas not under urban influence the policy seeks to facilitate rural housing based on siting and design criteria. Our Rural Future 5.2.8 Our Rural Future provides a policy framework for the development of rural Ireland over the next five years, to achieve the vision of transforming the quality of life and opportunity for people living in rural areas. The policy framework is developed in recognition of the diversity of rural areas, the interdependence of urban and rural areas, the centrality of people and communities, the importance of vibrant and lived-in rural places, and the potential to create quality jobs and shared environment. The ambitious framework seeks to deliver outcomes through a series of policy measures, requiring a co-ordinated, multi-sectoral approach to rural development as follows: • Optimising Digital Connectivity • Supporting Employment and Careers in Rural Areas • Revitalising Rural Towns and Villages • Enhancing Participation, Leadership and Resilience in Rural Communities • Enhancing Public services in Rural Areas. • Transitioning to a Climate Neutral Society • Supporting the Sustainability of Agriculture, the Marine and Forestry • Supporting the Sustainability of our Islands and Coastal Communities • Nurturing Culture and Heritage. GO TO CONTENTS
- 110 5.2.9 This vision is integral to the policies in this chapter for rural Cork and to the overall Plan. The need to promote a strong network of towns and villages which supports access to and delivery of local services, to maximise the opportunities through digital connectivity, to promote employment opportunities, to sustain rural populations enabling people to live in their rural areas and to assist people in the creation of resilient rural communities. Our Rural Future complements other Government policies such as Project Ireland 2040, the National Economic Recovery Plan, the Climate Action Plan and National Broadband Plan. Furthermore, the policy framework recognises the need to update the Rural Housing Guidelines for planning authorities to address rural housing in a broader rural development and settlement context. 5.2.10 Our Rural Future highlights the 2016 Census trend towards a rural population that has a slower growth rate and higher age profile than the national average. It also highlights the geographical variation in this population change, with rural population growth increasing close to towns and cities, while those more distant and remote rural locations are experiencing population decline. A number of conclusions from the CSO Urban and Rural Life in Ireland 2019 report, highlights the challenges facing highly rural/remote areas in terms of falling populations and access to services. Of note in terms of employment, is that one in four farmers in rural areas had an income stream from another industry sector. The impact of COVID-19 on rural areas is also highlighted, including the potential vulnerability of rural economies to economic downturns and disruption. There are also societal impacts associated with dispersed settlement patterns and the need for robust community structures to support vulnerable people. 5.3 Rural Housing Guidelines 5.3.1 Current guidelines on rural housing date from 2005 and reflect the provisions of the National Spatial Strategy published in 2002. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage have indicated that new guidelines are being prepared to address rural housing issues and to take account of the Flemish Decree, the National Planning Framework and broader settlement context. Amongst other things, it is anticipated that these guidelines will provide essential guidance on issues such as equal access to rural housing having regard to the freedom of movement across the EU, defining demonstrable social and economic need, identifying areas under urban pressure, and assessing the viability of towns and villages. 5.3.2 The Sustainable Rural Housing, Guidelines for Planning Authorities published in 2005, indicate that people who are part of the rural community should be facilitated by the planning system in all rural areas, including those under strong urbanbased pressures; anyone wishing to build a house in rural areas suffering persistent and substantial population decline will be accommodated; and, the development of the rural environs of major urban areas, needs to be carefully managed in order to assure their orderly development and successful functioning into the future. In addition, new development was to be sited and designed to integrate well with surroundings, protect water quality, have safe access, and conserve sensitive habitats, built and natural heritage, landscape etc. 5.3.3 The guidelines distinguish between urban and rural generated housing needs, recognise the need to classify rural areas types into six possible categories to reflect those under urban pressure / weaker areas etc., while also recognising the need to support the urban structure and strengthen towns and villages of areas. The guidelines note that development has economic, social, and environmental dimensions, and a balance must be struck between all three for development to be sustainable. 5.3.4 In terms of defining rural generated need, the guidelines identified people who are intrinsic to the rural community, by having spent substantial parts of their life there, and persons working in rural areas. Other categories such as returning immigrants and people with health issues were also provided for. 5.3.5 In line with the provisions of the 2005 guidelines, Cork County Council has identified a typology of rural area types and housing policies, distinguishing between urban and rural generated housing need, as set out in the following sections. 5.3.6 In the absence of new guidelines, it is not feasible to reconcile the approach of the NPF, which recognises the rights to freedom of movement amongst EU citizens and is based on having a ‘demonstrable economic and social need’ to construct as a house in a rural area, with the detailed approach set out in the current guidelines issued in 2005, which remain in force, which advocate that people who are part of the rural community should be accommodated there. The rural housing policy of this plan is therefore based on the 2005 Guidelines. GO TO CONTENTS
Source Cork County Council: Cork County Development Plan 2022–2028 – Volume One: Main Policy Material (2022–2028) · Licence the publisher's termsText read from the publisher’s PDF; tables, maps and drawings do not survive as text, and page numbers are the PDF’s (its first page is 1). Check the original before relying on a passage.