NPF Implementation: Housing Growth Requirements — Guidelines for Planning Authorities

1. Page 11

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   Page 11 of 16 Having reviewed the current adopted development plan against having regard to these Guidelines, the Chief Executive of each planning authority should prepare a report for the Elected Members, setting out the development capacity of existing zoned lands, including detailed information on the serviced status and planning status of lands, and demonstrating the means by which it is proposed, in the form of a recommendation from the Chief Executive, to secure the objectives of these Guidelines. A copy of this report should be provided to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the Office of the Planning Regulator12. Any variation to a development plan will require to be assessed under relevant EU Directives including the Strategic Environmental Assessment, Floods and Birds and Habitats Directives. 3.2 Ten Year Development Plans The Planning and Development Act 2024 (‘the Act of 2024’ was signed into law on 17 October 2024 and an implementation plan was published by Government13 in March 2025, setting out the details of a phased commencement of the Act to facilitate the transition from the existing legislative framework to the new legislation across the planning system. It should be noted that the existing provisions in the Act of 2000 will remain in place until the relevant provisions in the Act of 2024 are commenced and the corresponding provisions of the Act of 2000 are repealed. Following commencement of Part 3 of the Act of 2024, planning authorities will be required to prepare development plans that have a 10-year lifespan. The ‘Housing Development Strategy’ cited in Section 46 of the Act of 2024 provides for the incorporation of housing growth targets and ensuring that sufficient and suitable land is zoned. The Act of 2024 sets out a new approach to development plan making, based around a suite of strategies. Further Guidance will issue in due course to local authorities to update the current Section 28 Guidelines “Development Plans - Guidelines for Planning Authorities” (2022) and will provide specific guidance on the integration of longer-range housing requirements into core strategies. The Act of 2024 includes provisions relating to the issuing of National Planning Statements and provisions which permit the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to 12 via [email protected] and [email protected] 13https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritage/publications/implementation-planfor-the-planning-and-development-act-2024/

2. Page 12

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   Page 12 of 16 require planning authorities to review and, if necessary, vary the development plan further to the issuing of a National Planning Statement, following review by the Office of the Planning Regulator, in order to ensure that the development plan is materially consistent with the National Planning Statement14. The preparation or variation of a development plan under the Act of 2024 will require to be assessed under relevant EU Directives including the Strategic Environmental Assessment, Floods and Birds and Habitats Directives. 3.3 Review of Development Plans under the Act of 2000 Planning authorities commencing the development plan review process under the Act of 2000 should ensure that the current adopted development plan is also varied, as set out in section 3.1 above, noting the need to ensure that the requirements of the Revised NPF are reflected in development plans as quickly as possible. Section 68 of the Act of 2024, includes transitionary arrangements which allow, in certain circumstances and where necessary, existing development plans to continue in force as the planning system transitions to operate under the new structures provided for in the Act of 2024. 3.4 Local Area Plans Planning authorities should ensure that the objectives of these Guidelines are not reflected in Local Area Plans without also being reflected within the relevant development plan, given the need to ensure that the core strategy and settlement strategy of each development plan provides the overarching and comprehensive approach to housing requirements for the administrative area of the local authority, in accordance with the “Development Plans - Guidelines for Planning Authorities” (2022). Policy and Objective 3: It is a policy and objective of these Guidelines that planning authorities should use all available means to ensure that the objectives of these Guidelines are incorporated within development plans as quickly as possible through the variation of the current adopted development plan. Where a planning authority is undertaking a development plan review under the Act of 2000 or preparing a new development plan under the Act 14 Section 61 of the Planning and Development Act 2024

3. Page 13

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   Page 13 of 16 of 2024, a parallel process of varying the current adopted development plan, as appropriate, should be undertaken. The policies and objectives of these Guidelines should not be reflected in Local Area Plans without also being reflected within the relevant development plan. 4.0 Monitoring It will be necessary to undertake ongoing monitoring of development plan core strategies to measure the delivery of housing against the targets set and also to align with SEA monitoring of both the individual development plans as required under the SEA Directive, and also the cumulative impacts assessed as part of the NPF SEA monitoring. Accordingly, planning authorities should ensure that details of monitoring are published regularly.

4. Page 14

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   Page 14 of 16 Appendix 1 Note: The figures included above relating to the adopted development plans have been compiled based on the current adopted development plans for each planning authority. 2025 to 2034 2035 to 2040 Local Authority Existing Annual 2020 Housing Requirement (Housing Supply Target) Adopted Development Plan - Annual Housing Requirement (Housing Supply Target) New Annual New Housing Growth Requirement to 2034 New Annual New Housing Growth Requirement 2035 to 2040 Carlow County Council 406 518 518 507 Cavan County Council 479 666 666 599 Clare County Council 550 960 985 687 Cork City Council 2,032 2,706 2,706 2,539 Cork County Council 2,437 3,769 3,837 3,045 Donegal County Council 965 1,280 1,283 1,206 Dublin City Council 4,861 8,196 8,196 6,075 Dun Laoghaire Rathdown 1,908 3,085 3,585 2,384 Fingal County Council 1,717 2,738 3,153 2,146 Galway City Council 754 739 790 942 Galway County Council 1,831 1,790 2,008 2,288 Kerry County Council 690 1,167 1,167 862 Kildare County Council 1,535 1,524 2,755 1,918 Kilkenny County Council 618 775 948 772 Laois County Council 468 666 1,244 585 Leitrim County Council 124 201 201 155 Limerick City & County Council 2,193 2,599 2,599 2,740 Longford County Council 333 428 428 416 Louth County Council 956 1,380 1,677 1,195 Mayo County Council 501 542 1,111 626 Meath County Council 1,090 2,826 2,942 1,362 Monaghan County Council 306 330 751 382 Offaly County Council 439 663 891 549 Roscommon County Council 285 392 392 356 Sligo County Council 468 672 672 585 South Dublin County Council 1,932 2,596 3,270 2,414 Tipperary County Council 605 1,008 1,008 756 Waterford City & County Council 705 804 1,144 881 Westmeath County Council 548 983 983 685 Wexford County Council 578 1,072 1,622 722 Wicklow County Council 745 1,411 2,068 931 Total 33,059 48,484 55,598 41,312

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6. Page 16

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Source Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage: NPF Implementation: Housing Growth Requirements — Guidelines for Planning Authorities (July 2025) · 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.