National Planning Framework
Project Ireland 2040: National Planning Framework
The original framework, replaced by the 2025 revision. Development plans adopted before 2025 were made under it.
Government of Ireland · February 2018 · 182 pages
Superseded Replaced by National Planning Framework: First Revision. It is kept because plans made while it was in force refer to it.
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- The Role of Employment Population only partly explains Ireland’s urban structure and employment, or more specifically, where jobs are located, is also an important factor. A significant proportion, or more than half of Ireland’s largest towns measured in terms of population, are located within the Dublin or Cork city regions. Many of these function mainly as commuter settlements, with large resident populations and limited employment. While there are few large towns in the Northern and Western Region north of Galway City, towns in the North-West and in other areas outside the larger city regions, such as the Midlands, tend to have more significant employment and service functions relative to their regional and local catchment. Some also have very high ratios of jobs to resident workforce22, which means that they are attracting workers from a wide catchment area. Data for all urban settlements is included as part of Appendix 2. It is significant that out of a total of 154 settlements in Ireland with fewer than 10,000 people in 2016, 40 of these had a population of more than 5,000, but only twelve had more than 2,500 jobs. On the one hand, this highlights a number of locations where smaller settlements by reason of accessibility, employment and local services, fulfil important roles for a wider area, many as county towns, but on the other, it assists in explaining why the population of this category of town has either declined or stagnated in recent years23. A comparable number of larger settlements of more than 10,000 people are characterised by very low ratios of jobs to resident workforce, having around 2,500 jobs or fewer in 2016. All of these are mainly commuter settlements and many have undergone rapid residential expansion in recent decades. This type of commuter-focused residential development is similarly apparent in respect of many smaller towns, located within the larger city regions. There is also a category of historically larger town, mainly in Leinster, that experienced significant commuter based residential growth during the same period, but not jobs growth, in part due a decline in traditional industrial and process-based employment. These include, for example, Balbriggan, Navan and Portlaoise, Ireland’s three fastest growing large towns between 1996 and 2016, where the population has grown rapidly, without equivalent increases in jobs. In contrast, there are a number of large settlements throughout Ireland, where the ratio of jobs to resident workforce has remained high, due to a more sustainable balance of employment and population growth. There are also some large towns with a good balance of jobs and population in 2016, but generally with a lower ratio of workers to jobs, for a combination of reasons ranging from proximity to larger centres of employment, to some loss of traditional occupations. 59Project Ireland 2040 | Building Ireland’s Future | National Planning Framework
- 4.3 Planning for Ireland’s Urban Growth The unique and complex nature of Ireland’s urban structure suggests the need for a range of complementary strategies in the context of planning for future growth. In order to achieve more balanced and sustainable development, some settlements will need to attract increased population, whereas others will need more jobs, amenities or better transport links. Some require a combination of these, but all will require a tailored approach, that can be appropriately linked to investment, through the national Rural and Urban Regeneration and Development Fund, that will be put in place as part of the ten-year National Development Plan in support of this Framework: As well as focusing on the role of Dublin and the significant potential of Ireland’s other four cities, there is a need to strengthen Ireland’s overall urban structure, especially in the North-West; There is a need to encourage population growth in towns of all sizes that are strong employment and service centres, where potential for sustainable growth exists, also supported by employment growth; There is a need to reverse the stagnation or decline of many smaller urban centres, that may include the identification and establishment of new roles and functions and enhancement of local infrastructure and amenities; There is a need to address the legacy of rapid unplanned growth in expanded commuter settlements of all sizes, by facilitating amenities and services catch-up, jobs growth and/or improved sustainable transport links to the cities, together with a much slower, more sustainable rate of population growth than in recent decades; In more self-contained settlements of all sizes, with a good balance of people and jobs, there is a need to continue balanced population and employment growth. 60Project Ireland 2040 | Building Ireland’s Future | National Planning Framework
- It is therefore an objective of the National Planning Framework to: National Policy Objective 7 Apply a tailored approach to urban development, that will be linked to the Rural and Urban Regeneration and Development Fund, with a particular focus on: Dublin; The four Cities of Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford; Strengthening Ireland’s overall urban structure, particularly in the Northern and Western and Midland Regions, to include the regional centres of Sligo and Letterkenny in the North-West, Athlone in the Midlands and cross-border networks focused on the Letterkenny-Derry North-West Gateway Initiative and Drogheda-Dundalk-Newry on the Dublin-Belfast corridor; Encouraging population growth in strong employment and service centres of all sizes, supported by employment growth; Reversing the stagnation or decline of many smaller urban centres, by identifying and establishing new roles and functions and enhancement of local infrastructure and amenities; Addressing the legacy of rapid unplanned growth, by facilitating amenities and services catch-up, jobs and/or improved sustainable transport links to the cities, together with a slower rate of population growth in recently expanded commuter settlements of all sizes; In more self-contained settlements of all sizes, supporting a continuation of balanced population and employment growth. Ireland’s Cities As a key element of the NPF strategy to grow Ireland’s three regions, build more accessible centres of scale and to ensure more compact and sustainable forms of development that will be supported by focused investment, and new governance arrangements, it will be necessary to encourage proportionally higher levels of population growth in Ireland’s five cities. Dublin is Ireland’s globally competitive city of scale and continues to drive much of the growth of the country as a whole. Cork is emerging as an international centre of scale and is well placed to complement Dublin, but requires significantly accelerated and urban-focused growth to more fully achieve this role. The Dublin City and immediately adjoining suburban area should therefore plan to grow at a targeted rate of just above the projected national average to 2040, i.e. by around 20% to 25%24. The planned rate of growth in the Cork City and suburban area should be between two or three times the national average (50% to 60%), over the same period. Given Dublin’s scale, this means planning for at least 235,000 more people in the City and suburbs by 2040. The higher targeted rate of growth for Cork also means planning for significant numbers, i.e. at least 105,000 more people by 204025. The cities of Limerick, Galway and Waterford are also important drivers of national growth and key regional centres. All have international visibility to some extent and require greater scale. As part of the National Planning Framework strategy to accelerate the development of and strengthen these Cities, all three should also plan to grow by at least half, i.e. by 50% to 60%, to 204026. 61Project Ireland 2040 | Building Ireland’s Future | National Planning Framework
- 1 National Policy Objective 8 To ensure that the targeted pattern of population growth of Ireland’s cities to 2040 is in accordance with the targets set out in Table 4.1. Ireland’s Towns There is scope for potential growth in all towns in Ireland. In the context of the National Planning Framework, this will largely be determined by the relevant Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy for each Regional Assembly area, also taking into consideration the potential of smaller settlements and rural areas. National Policy Objectives 2b and 7 recognise the key regional roles of Athlone in the Midlands, Sligo in the North-West, and the Letterkenny-Derry and Drogheda-Dundalk-Newry cross-border networks and will inform the relevant Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies. The extent to which these towns should target future growth will be determined at regional level in the context of this Framework. While targeted growth in the regional centres and network towns will take the lead in a regional and in the case of Athlone, inter-regional context, this must also be balanced with that targeted elsewhere. In all cases, regional and local planning authorities must consider the varied growth potential of different types of settlement in accordance with National Policy Objective 7, as well as rural areas, and tailor a strategy to balance this accordingly. It is not expected that all towns, large or small, will each target the same level of growth to 2040 and targets set in accordance with the Framework and the Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies will be reviewed based on performance, by 2027. But all towns can and must grow over this period and some will be identified as having capacity for higher than average levels of growth. In each Regional Assembly area, where it is proposed to target significant growth, i.e. at a rate of 30% or more above 2016 population levels to 2040, in any settlement not identified in Policy 2a or Policy 2b of this Framework, for example where there will be major employment or infrastructure investment, this will be on an agreed basis, aligned with investment in infrastructure and/or the provision of employment, together with supporting amenities and services: Table 4.1 | Ireland 2040: Targeted Pattern of City Population Growth City Population 2016 Population Growth to 204027 Minimum Target Population 2040 % Range People Dublin - City and Suburbs 1,173,000 20-25% 235,000 - 293,000 1,408,000 Cork - City and Suburbs 209,000 50-60% 105,000 - 125,000 314,000 Limerick - City and Suburbs 94,000 50-60% 47,000 - 56,000 141,000 Galway - City and Suburbs 80,000 50-60% 40,000 - 48,000 120,000 Waterford - City and Suburbs 54,000 50-60% 27,000 - 32,000 81,000 62Project Ireland 2040 | Building Ireland’s Future | National Planning Framework
- National Policy Objective 9 In each Regional Assembly area, settlements not identified in Policy 2a or 2b of this Framework, may be identified for significant (i.e. 30% or more above 2016 population levels) rates of population growth at regional and local planning stages, provided this is subject to: Agreement (regional assembly, metropolitan area and/or local authority as appropriate); Balance with strategies for other urban and rural areas (regional assembly, metropolitan area and/or local authority as appropriate), which means that the totality of planned population growth has to be in line with the overall growth target; and A co-ordinated strategy that ensures alignment with investment in infrastructure and the provision of employment, together with supporting amenities and services. While the above planning considerations will generally apply to all urban and rural areas, this specific provision is intended to ensure that in settlements identified for significant population growth, it is aligned with the provision of employment and/or infrastructure and supporting facilities, to ensure a good quality of life for both existing and future residents. The Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies for each Regional Assembly area shall address the potential of towns and their catchments in conjunction with consideration of growth targets for cities and rural areas. In applying a tailored approach to urban development, that can be linked to the Rural and Urban Regeneration and Development Fund, key considerations further to NPO 7 will include: The extent to which a settlement is located inside or outside one of the five defined City- Region catchments and may be characterised as commuter focused or as more self-contained28; The scale of employment provision and net commuting flows; The extent of local services and amenities provision i.e. administration, education – particularly higher education institutes, health, leisure and retail; The extent to which trips may be made by sustainable modes of travel, i.e. walking, cycling or public transport, and the scale of planned investment in such; The rate and pace of development from 1996-2016 and the extent to which there are outstanding requirements for infrastructure and amenities; Accessibility and influence in a regional or subregional context; Particular sub-regional interdependencies, for example, where a settlement may be located in relation to a number of nearby settlements and scope for collaboration and complementarity; Track record of performance and delivery, as well as ambition and initiative and scope to leverage investment; Commitment to achieve compact growth. 63Project Ireland 2040 | Building Ireland’s Future | National Planning Framework
- 4.4 Planning for Urban Employment Growth The pattern of urban growth targeted in the National Planning Framework is population and employment led, recognising that firms and enterprise development are drawn to urban locations by market forces such as agglomeration, migration and specialisation that depend on factors such as scale, accessibility, innovation supported by higher education institutions and quality of life. Projected employment growth in Ireland to 2040, although significant, is subject to our capacity to accommodate it. Sustainable enterprise thrives in supportive business environments that enhance competitiveness and productivity with good supporting infrastructure. There are also critical links between the quality of urban place-making and business investment/ job creation. Place-making is identified as a key differentiator in Enterprise 2025, Ireland’s National Enterprise Policy 2015-25. The NPF strategy is to focus a significant proportion of population growth in Ireland’s Cities, while also seeking to improve urban infrastructure and amenities, livability/ quality of life and the quality of the built environment. This approach intends to ensure that we continue to provide an attractive range of enterprise development opportunities in the face of changing employment activity and sectors. At an urban scale, in cities and towns generally, it is important to identify locations where enterprises can access competitively priced development lands, utilities and commercial properties to the highest standards available internationally. Planning to accommodate strategic employment growth at regional, metropolitan and local level should include consideration of: Current employment location, density of workers, land-take and resource/infrastructure dependency, including town centres, business parks, industrial estates and significant single enterprises; Locations for expansion of existing enterprises; Locations for new enterprises, based on the extent to which they are people intensive (i.e. employees/ customers), space extensive (i.e. land), tied to resources, dependent on the availability of different types of infrastructure (e.g. telecoms, power, water, roads, airport, port etc.) or dependent on skills availability; Locations for potential relocation of enterprises that may be better suited to alternative locations and where such a move, if facilitated, would release urban land for more efficient purposes that would be of benefit to the regeneration and development of the urban area as a whole, particularly in metropolitan areas and large towns. Current employment location, density of workers, land-take and resource/ infrastructure dependency, including town centres, business parks, industrial estates and significant single enterprises. Locations for expansion of existing enterprises. Locations for new enterprises, based on the extent to which they are people intensive (i.e. employees/ customers), space extensive (i.e. land), tied to resources, dependent on the availability of different types of infrastructure (e.g. telecoms, power, water, roads, airport, port etc.) or dependent on skills availability. Locations for potential relocation of enterprises that may be better suited to alternative locations and where such a move, if facilitated, would release urban land for more efficient purposes that would be of benefit to the regeneration and development of the urban area as a whole, particularly in metropolitan areas and large towns. Planning to accommodate strategic employment growth at regional, metropolitan and local level should include consideration of: 64Project Ireland 2040 | Building Ireland’s Future | National Planning Framework
- In addition to the five cities, there are opportunities for other urban areas and in particular wellconnected towns that are accessible to a significant population catchment and/or can offer a good quality of life, to accommodate employment growth. National Policy Objective 10a Regional and Local Authorities to identify and quantify locations for strategic employment development in the cities identified in Table 4.1. National Policy Objective 10b Regional and Local Authorities to identify and quantify locations for strategic employment development, where suitable, in urban and rural areas generally. While regional and local plans should seek to anticipate and plan for jobs growth and economic development, new and unexpected opportunities for enterprise development are likely to arise for particular locational reasons, such as local resources, skills, assets, innovation or quality of life. Regional and local planning policies should be sufficiently agile to account for these possibilities, to accommodate valid propositions for enterprise development that may emerge and for which there are strong locational drivers that do not apply to the same extent elsewhere. In order to facilitate this type of dynamic, employment-led opportunity, while also ensuring that it can be aligned with housing, infrastructure and services provision, the approach to population growth outlined in NPO9 above must be applied as an immediate follow-on measure, commensurate with the scale of enterprise development emerging. It shall be formalised at the regional and/or local planning level at the earliest opportunity. 4.5 Achieving Urban Infill/ Brownfield Development The National Planning Framework targets a significant proportion of future urban development on infill/brownfield development sites within the built footprint of existing urban areas. This is applicable to all scales of settlement, from the largest city, to the smallest village. This means encouraging more people, jobs and activity generally within our existing urban areas, rather than mainly ‘greenfield’ development and requires a change in outlook. In particular, it requires well-designed, high quality development that can encourage more people, and generate more jobs and activity within existing cities, towns and villages. This is provided that development meets appropriate standards to achieve targeted levels of growth. It also requires active management of land and sites in urban areas. National Policy Objective 11 In meeting urban development requirements, there will be a presumption in favour of development that can encourage more people and generate more jobs and activity within existing cities, towns and villages, subject to development meeting appropriate planning standards and achieving targeted growth. Regeneration and Rejuvenation Central to delivering the vision in the NPF is a new and more public policy directed approach to the delivery and location of future development, including housing that our economy and society needs over the next decade and beyond. There are many areas in our cities, towns and villages that contain lands and buildings not developed or used to their full potential. A significant portion of these lands are in public ownership, such as the large city centre areas that were former docks or rail depots or other large areas in key locations (including the city centres of Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford) and along new public transport corridors opened up by infrastructure projects such as the Luas Cross City line in Dublin. Government is committed to a major increase in the public housing programme, delivering 40,000 new homes to 2021 and another 72,000 homes to 2027 under the National Development Plan. 65Project Ireland 2040 | Building Ireland’s Future | National Planning Framework
- The investment in public housing on local authority and wider State lands will, at one level, be used to drive renewal and rejuvenation, meeting people’s housing needs much closer to existing transport, services and amenities, rather than continually sprawling outwards, where both housing and supporting infrastructure must be provided from scratch. At a time when many people, including those on average incomes, wish to live close to where they work and the services and amenities necessary to enjoy a good quality of life, they struggle to do so because the urban housing market has become constrained. More affordable homes must be provided in our urban areas as part of the creation of mixed-tenure communities. Through targeted NDP investment in enabling infrastructure and services on publicly owned sites, leveraging the value of the land to provide mixedtenure developments and providing flexibility on design and density, particularly in our urban cores, we can facilitate more cost-efficient construction and a variety of homes aimed at first-time buyers, within both new housing developments and re-development of existing built-up areas. It is necessary to ensure that public policy can directly influence the strategic development of housing for the common good. To do this, Government will put in place measures to better manage the supply of development land, to meet housing land requirements, ease pressure on building land and housing costs and to capture gains in land value from the development process for investment in necessary public infrastructure. There have been notable urban renewal and rejuvenation successes in Ireland. Dublin’s Docklands, once one of the most disadvantaged and rundown parts of the City, today accommodates many thousands of people working and living in an attractive and desirable area that has been regenerated to a world class standard. There are many other good examples of urban, town, village and rural renewal. Learning from our past successes, the Government will establish a National Regeneration and Development Agency, with a remit to: Work with local authorities, other public bodies and capital spending departments and agencies; Co-ordinate and secure the best use of public lands; Co-ordinate and secure investment required within the capital envelopes provided in the Ireland 2040 - National Development Plan; Drive the renewal of strategic areas not being utilised to their full potential, (e.g. through CPO and other incentives) from cities and larger towns to opportunities at a smaller scale in rural towns and villages. As part of the measures to advance brownfield development, the Government will consider how to make State lands available to such a body to kickstart its development role, as well as legislating for enhanced powers of compulsory purchase of privately owned sites, to ensure the necessary physical restructuring and transformation of the places most in need of regeneration can take place more swiftly and more effectively. 66Project Ireland 2040 | Building Ireland’s Future | National Planning Framework
- National Policy Objective 12 The Government will establish a National Regeneration and Development Agency to work with local authorities, other public bodies and capital spending departments and agencies to co-ordinate and secure the best use of public lands, investment required within the capital envelopes provided in the National Development Plan and to drive the renewal of strategic areas not being utilised to their full potential. The Government will consider how best to make State lands available to such a body to kickstart its development role and to legislate for enhanced compulsory purchase powers to ensure that the necessary transformation of the places most in need of regeneration can take place more swiftly and effectively. Regeneration and Development Demonstration Project - Portlaoise Towns like Portlaoise witnessed very rapid expansion of new housing areas and retail centres outside the traditional town core during the early 2000s. Like many other towns that went through similar periods of growth, there is a marked contrast between the type of development that occurred in the historic town core and that which took place in the surrounding ring roads and outlying parking areas. In regional and rural towns and villages, there are many opportunities to address these legacy issues and turn around their fortunes. There is now a need for a major focus on regenerating original town centre and main street areas and how they relate to the expanded town, with a view to creating more attractive, desirable places that people want to live and spend time in, for work, shopping or recreational purposes. A Demonstration Project will be initiated on a community- and locally-led urban design and renewal initiative. The national Regeneration and Development Agency, with investment from the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund and wider community and local businesses, will create and deliver a new vision for the centre of Portlaoise, to show how the best quality planning, urban design and implementation can create rejuvenated towns. There will be a particular focus on self-sustaining and community-driven renewal. Performance-Based Design Standards Infill and brownfield development is more challenging to deliver than greenfield development for a variety of reasons, including land management but also the challenge of integrating with existing communities, who may have a preference for the status quo to be retained, even if that might reduce opportunities for rejuvenation and drive urban expansion outwards. To enable brownfield development, planning policies and standards need to be flexible, focusing on designled and performance-based outcomes, rather than specifying absolute requirements in all cases. Although sometimes necessary to safeguard against poor quality design, planning standards should be flexibly applied in response to well-designed development proposals that can achieve urban infill and brownfield development objectives in settlements of all sizes. This is in recognition of the fact that many current urban planning standards were devised for application to greenfield development sites and cannot account for the evolved layers of complexity in existing built-up areas. In particular, general restrictions on building height or universal standards for car parking or garden size may not be applicable in all circumstances in urban areas and should be replaced by performance-based criteria appropriate to general location, e.g. city/town centre, public transport hub, inner suburban, public transport corridor, outer suburban, town, village etc. A more dynamic performance-based approach appropriate to urban location type will also enable the level of public transport service to improve as more development occurs and vice-versa. There should also generally be no car parking requirement for new development in or near the centres of the five cities, and a significantly reduced requirement in the inner suburbs of all five. National Policy Objective 13 In urban areas, planning and related standards, including in particular building height and car parking will be based on performance criteria that seek to achieve well-designed high quality outcomes in order to achieve targeted growth. These standards will be subject to a range of tolerance that enables alternative solutions to be proposed to achieve stated outcomes, provided public safety is not compromised and the environment is suitably protected. This more dynamic approach will also be applied to urban land use, where the existing character of land use in an urban area may be subject to change. This should generally be as part of an overall area or master plan and/or be suitable for application on an incremental basis. 67Project Ireland 2040 | Building Ireland’s Future | National Planning Framework
- 5.1 Why Rural Places Matter Rural areas make a major contribution to Ireland’s identity and to overall national development in economic, social, cultural and environmental terms. Rural areas, including Gaeltacht regions and Ireland’s inhabited offshore islands, hold much of Ireland’s natural resources, biodiversity, environmental qualities and landscape and contribute in a unique way to Ireland’s culture. Well over a third of Irish people live outside cities and towns and this proportion increases to half of the population, if smaller towns and villages are included. Rural areas are also a focus for working and for recreational activities. The agri-food and tourism sectors, which are particularly important for rural economies, employ in excess of 363,000 people (18% of the national workforce). Rural Ireland has faced challenges in recent decades, such as the loss of traditional industries and employment, emigration and poor connectivity. The emergence of new technologies and improved infrastructural connectivity provide opportunities for diversification into new employment sectors and to build on the success of many Irish and foreign-owned companies supporting employment in rural areas. Accordingly, building on Government policy and the 2017 Action Plan for Rural Development, the National Planning Framework will place a major focus on rural areas in relation to: Strengthening Ireland’s rural fabric and supporting the communities who live there; Planning for the future growth and development of rural areas, including addressing decline, with a special focus on activating the potential for the renewal and development of smaller towns and villages; Putting in place planning and investment policies to support job creation in the rural economy; Addressing connectivity gaps; Better co-ordination of existing investment programmes dealing with social inclusion, rural development and town and village renewal. Planning for Diverse Rural Places 68Project Ireland 2040 | Building Ireland’s Future | National Planning Framework
Source Government of Ireland: Project Ireland 2040: National Planning Framework (February 2018) · 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.