Building Sensitively and Sustainably in County Louth

1. Page 61(read from a scan)

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   BUILDING TRADITION Grouped Buildings In village, town or open country, the grouping of buildings is an opportunity to create public or semiprivate space, to strengthen visual character, to control the impact on the landscape, and to avoid the appearance of sprawl. The layout of landlord towns was a recognition of the opportunity for place-making in the urban and village environment, which generated much urban quality in the county's settlements. Today, we have successful examples of housing layouts; more often their setting is ignored. These examples show the different impacts which can be achieved with grouped layouts. Termonfeckin golf course - These houses occupy a bleak, windswept site and need their own shelter. Grouping limits the impact and leaves the fields around relatively undisturbed. Collon village green - An industrial landlord, the Foster family, created the village and these cottages which define the green. The market house completes the space.

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   BUILDING TRADITION Queensborough, Baltray - Linear estate village is varied in house types but holds together well with continuous stone walls fronting the road Whitestown - Linked cottages set back from the road provide a stretch of continuous frontage in the village

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   BUILDING TRADITION Conclusion The purpose of this chapter has been to show the ever-varying presence of architecture in County Louth - from the unselfconscious, charming rural cottages, to the grand and imposing country houses. History and heritage has shaped the built quality of the county within a rich and varied landscape. Within that variety, there is a continuity of tradition and a sense of belonging in the landscape. There is no limit to the creative possibilities in the new architecture. It will flourish through acknowledgement of the continuity of building tradition within the unique landscapes of the county, and in its expression of local identity through an appropriate architecture. Ardee - New buildings adopt the scale of adjacent grain stores. The archway leads to an enclosed square surrounded by new houses, creating an attractive town-centrescale development. Collon - New housing creates a street edge and steps down with the gradient. A gentle rhythm is developed by the building elements: doors, windows, downpipes, overhanging porches and roofs.

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   Chapter 4 – Policy guidelines for settlement, growth and buildings in the countryside This chapter sets out the background to policies about development in the county and both the national and local framework within which design guidelines should operate. The policies included in the County Development Plan are summarised here, but they are not a comprehensive statement of the Plan, which should be referred to for the statutory basis for policy. Carlingford – planning for the future means safeguarding the environment of Co Louth Recent development in Louth Village strengthens the village form opposite New sheltered housing in Carlingford

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   POLICY GUIDELINES Sustainable development in County Louth The Government has published a national policy for sustainable development which local authorities are required to adopt according to the particular circumstances of their settlement patterns. Louth County Development Plan closely mirrors these provisions, the thrust of policies aiming to ensure that sustainable development is achieved throughout the county. The first part of this chapter is a summary of the most relevant parts of the National Sustainable Development Strategy. National Sustainable Development Strategy Urban-generated development in rural areas Although the predominant national rural characteristic is one of rural decline, there are rural areas, such as those around Dublin, and including County Louth, where there is intense pressure for growth generated by those people who work in the nearby city and towns, and those who would like to develop tourist housing or second homes in scenic areas. In a general sense, these demands are unsustainable for the following reasons: 1 Being at a distance from work, shops, schools and entertainment demands a high level of fossil fuel energy-consumption on a day-to-day basis. 2 Individual septic tanks pose a threat to groundwater protection and water supplies. 3 Roads, transport and waste collection costs are increased. 4 There may be a negative impact in terms of the urban fabric of the smaller towns. The National Strategy proposes that certain principles should be adhered to in respect of such development, and includes: • restriction of development along national primary and secondary roads for traffic safety reasons; • recognition of the need to preserve outstanding landscapes and views; • integration of one-off housing into the landscape, through good design, good use of site and use of appropriate building materials; • use only of sites suitable for sewage disposal and drainage; • encouragement for rehabilitation of derelict houses, which in certain instances may be a more sustainable option than the construction of a new dwelling; • clear demarcation between urban and rural land uses to help prevent

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   POLICY GUIDELINES urban sprawl, to encourage more sustainable development patterns in larger settlements, and to help maintain the rural landscape. These issues are specifically covered in the Louth County Development Plan. National Sustainable Development Strategy Conservation of the architectural heritage The refurbishment of older buildings which have intrinsic architectural, historic or traditional qualities is seen as a major element of the sustainable development policy and is emphasised at a time when government is introducing new legislation to ensure the adequate protection of the architectural heritage. Local authorities play a prime role in this new structure, and must ensure that protected buildings are not endangered by neglect or by ignorance, and that they should be protected as part of the development plan. County Louth already has an extensive list of protected properties, but it is likely that a countywide inventory of buildings of architectural, historical and traditional importance will identify a much larger number, including town and village houses which have a unique quality as a group, traditional farm buildings and thatched cottages. National Sustainable Development Strategy Design, construction, and energy-efficiency in sustainable housing The basic principles are quite straightforward – minimise artificial lighting, heating and mechanical ventilation; conserve water; use site and materials wisely; recycle where possible; exploit energy-intelligent design. Energy efficiency improvement in buildings, resulting from increased insulation standards, will continue to play a major part in giving maximum comfort to occupants whilst causing minimum pollution of the atmosphere. These extracts from the Government Sustainable Development Policy serve to confirm that the objectives included in the Louth County Development Plan closely mirror this policy, and also to highlight national concerns about those local issues which are experienced in County Louth. Cottages at Ballymascanlon – These are part of the rich architectural heritage of the county, but are at risk and urgently in need of protection and repair opposite Large new urban-style dwellings in the countryside make a decisive change in the landscape. This prominent development is along the coast road near Termonfeckin.

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   POLICY GUIDELINES Development policies and the County Development Plan The Louth County Development Plan is the vehicle for setting out policies for settlement. As a statutory document, it should be the first point of reference for anyone seeking to build in the county. This summary gives a flavour of those policies, but it is important to refer to the Development Plan to understand the context in which they are set out. County Development Plan Housing development strategy The introduction to the housing development strategy emphasises the economic disadvantages of servicing an increasingly dispersed settlement pattern, and the social and physical implications of falling populations within existing settlements: the under-use of infrastructure, increased dereliction and vacancy levels of property. There is concern that the rural parts of the county will not be able to accommodate new development in a satisfactory manner, and the tendency towards ribbon development leads to a blurring of the definitive edge of the settlements. County Development Plan Preference for housing within existing settlement structures The County Council wishes to retain the existing housing stock in the county, whilst expanding it through new housing development within the existing settlement structures. There may be exceptional cases due to family situations, local rural employment, or where renovation of an existing derelict property is concerned where building elsewhere may be approved. There will, nevertheless, be particular limitations to ensure that protection is afforded to the landscape and coastline of the county, and to proposed Natural Heritage Areas. County Development Plan Avoiding ribbon development and urban sprawl Settlements can become indistinct if the development reaches out into the

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   POLICY GUIDELINES countryside, creating ribbon development and linking one village or town with another. It becomes particularly important to make a definite edge between settlements and the countryside when dealing with larger settlements – Dundalk, Drogheda and Ardee – to try to contain urban sprawl. County Development Plan Dealing with rural housing within specially designated areas The Development Plan designates certain areas within which any proposed development will be severely restricted. These are as follows: • Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) There are two such areas identified in the county: – OB1, which is the Ravensdale / Carlingford area, and – OB2, which is the coastal area around Port Oriel and Clogherhead. • Areas of High Scenic Quality (AHSQ) There are six of these areas considered as significant scenic reserves, and they are distributed from north to south throughout the county. • Scenic Routes This is a baseline list of routes which are seen to need protection from adverse developments in order to preserve their rural character and the views from the routes. • Coastline of Special Scenic Quality (CSSQ) This often overlaps with the scenic routes, and covers about two-thirds of the coastline. A general objective in these areas is to resist development of any kind within two hundred metres of the shoreline. Coastline in County Louth possesses a distinctive and special beauty opposite A distinctive edge between settlement and countryside

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    POLICY GUIDELINES County Development Plan Differential areas of development control Recognition that the county is not a homogeneous region in development terms has led to the proposal of four distinctive areas with different characteristics for the purposes of development control: • the areas of high amenity as set out; • the hinterlands of Dundalk and Drogheda; • the remaining rural areas of the county; • the designated development centres. There are differing restrictions on housing development in each of the distinctive areas to ensure that the objectives are achieved. They include limitation on house size (140m² to 150m²) in designated scenic areas, and minimum plot sizes (0.2 ha.). In some areas, there is provision for sterilising further land for development adjacent to the road, and for maintaining a minimum (100m) frontage to the road. To avoid ribbon development, a maximum of three houses in a row is permitted, with minimum distance between rows of four hundred metres. Minimum garden sizes are set down: from 90m² to 150m², with a requirement generally for on-site garage and parking provision. These requirements are specific to particular area designations, and should be checked in the County Development Plan. Detailed provision is made to fulfil the objectives set out above, which are as follows: • to preserve and protect the natural, unspoilt physical landscape and beauty of the area; • to protect areas of High Scenic Quality from over-development; • to protect the coastline; • to avoid ribbon development; • to preserve the rural character. The identification of a large number of development centres is intended to encourage residential development to locate within existing villages and nucleated settlements. The guidelines which follow are based on an interpretation of these policy statements, to assist in achieving the positive development objectives set out for the county, whilst paying careful attention to the environmental situations which demand a sensitive and sustainable response. Vulnerable dune system adjacent to a golf course

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