Waterford City and County Development Plan 2022–2028 — Chapter 8

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   WATERFORD CITY & COUNTY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2022 – 2028236 Safe Places Policy Objective Place 08 To ensure new development is consistent with the model of compact growth envisaged in NSO No1 and NPO 3a, 3b and 3c. 6, 7 of the NPF, and is of a high quality design, bringing people together to support local public transport, facilities and services. Place 09 Promote excellent urban design responses to achieve high quality, sustainable urban and natural environments, which are attractive to residents, workers and visitors, and are in accordance with the 12 urban design principles set out in the Urban Design Manual – A Best Practice Guide (2009) or equivalent. Place 10 All medium to-large scale and complex planning applications (15 + residential units (or less depending on the site context), commercial development over 500 sqm. or as otherwise required by the Planning Authority) shall submit a ‘Design Statement’ and shall be required to demonstrate how the proposed development addresses or responds to the design criteria set out in the ‘Urban Design Manual - A Best Practice Guide’ (DoEHLG, 2009) and incorporates adaptability of units and/ or space within the scheme. The design statement would include how the circular economy could be addressed from design through to planned end-use and beyond. In addition, where the development is proposed on a regeneration site or other site identified as being suitable for taller buildings and higher densities (Table 3.2 of the Development Plan, landmark sites within newly developing city neighbourhoods or other such sites identified in Local Area Plans to be made during the lifetime of the Development Plan) the Design Statement will be required to demonstrate full compliance with the Specific Planning Policy Requirements of the Urban Development and Building Heights Guidelines for Planning Authorities (2018) or other such S 28 Ministerial Guidelines applicable at the time. Place 11 Proposed developments, including public realm works (and improvement works of existing areas), should include elements of vernacular, local or regional character and materials, including existing built form, landscape and local architectural precedents. These should include, but are not limited to, the following (please also reference design/placemaking guide in Appendix 5): • the composition of street scenes/ streetscape, individual buildings and their elements. • the height, scale, plot size, massing and relationships between buildings and spaces. • views, vistas and landmarks. • roofscapes. • façade design, such as the degree of symmetry, variety, the pattern and proportions of windows and doors, and their details. • the hierarchy, function, scale of streets and spaces. • high quality public realm, hard landscape and street furniture. • soft landscape, landscape setting and backdrop. • nature and wildlife, including water. • light, shade, sunshine and shadows; and • colours, textures, shapes and patterns.

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   WATERFORD CITY & COUNTY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2022 – 2028237 8.6 Creating green sustainable, attractive multifunctional places Climate Change Adapting our built environments to overcome the challenges associated with climate change is becoming ever more pressing. The impact of our built-up urban environments, with impermeable surfaces such as roads and pavements, have resulted in many of our urban centres becoming increasingly vulnerable to urban flooding, reduced air quality and poor quality ‘grey’ environments. The Council encourages for more ecosystem services and nature-based solutions rather than a hard infrastructure approach when considered climate adaptation infrastructure. This infrastructure must be accommodated in a sensitively designed manner in order to integrate with urban settings to positively contribute to the public. Simple incremental measures present opportunities to enhance the attractiveness of our urban spaces in response to our environmental and social needs through incorporation, for example, tree planting and soft landscaping. Nature/ Green-Blue Infrastructure The access to, and use of, green and blue space is important for our well-being. It contributes to the quality of place and to people’s quality of life. It is a fundamental element of high-quality designed places. Access to open space and nature provides opportunities for comfort, relaxation, stimulation and social interaction in a safe environment. Well-designed places should integrate existing and incorporate new natural features and elements of green infrastructure (both man-made and natural) into a multifunctional network, including linkages, that support quality of place, biodiversity and water management, and addresses climate change mitigation and resilience. Design of places should prioritise nature so that diverse ecosystems can flourish to ensure a healthy natural environment that supports and enhances biodiversity. Well-designed places should provide attractive open spaces in locations that are easy to access, with activities for all to enjoy, such as play, food production, recreation and sport, so as to encourage physical activity and promote health, well-being and social inclusion. New and existing water features/ courses should form part of an integrated ecosystem of landscape, biodiversity and drainage, where nature-based solutions to hard infrastructure are used as biodiversity links and/or corridors. Coupled with sustainable urban drainage (SUDs), green and brown roofs, swales, rain gardens, rain capture and other drainage, water features create multifunctional ‘green’ sustainable drainage systems. They also enhance the attractiveness of open spaces and provide opportunities for play, interaction and relaxation. Image credit: Digicol

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   WATERFORD CITY & COUNTY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2022 – 2028238 A Mix of Uses Sustainable places include a mix of uses that support everyday activities, including areas to live, work and play. Providing a mix of uses accommodates a broad spectrum of society e.g. offices draw workers, playgrounds draw young kids, wildflower garden draw older adults, and sports facilities draw teenagers, while parks and open space bring everyone together. Encouraging a mix of residential, social, commercial, cultural and community uses within existing settlements and new developments will enhance their longterm vitality and viability. Successful communities require a range and choice of local services and facilities including schools, nurseries, workplaces, healthcare, spiritual, recreational, civic and commercial uses. These represent the needs and aspirations of the existing and future local community, including all ages and abilities. Such services and facilities should: • Support everyday life and encourage sustainable lifestyles. • Are convenient and within walking or cycling distance on accessible routes to local homes and other facilities; and • Are located to complement rather than conflict with neighbouring uses in terms of noise, servicing and ventilation. Mixed-use development creates an active and vibrant place that feels like a centre or destination. Typically, it is appropriate in urban locations and the centre of larger scale developments. A mix of home types sizes and tenures Well-designed neighbourhoods need to include an integrated mix of housing types and tenures that reflect local housing need and market demand. They should be designed to be inclusive, and to meet the changing needs of people of different ages and abilities. New development/ redevelopment opportunities reinforce existing places by enhancing local transport, facilities and community services, and maximising their potential use. Where different tenures are provided, these should be well integrated and designed to create tenure neutral homes and spaces, where no tenure type is disadvantaged. Key Destinations Destinations provide opportunities for communities to come together and share experiences. Destination places become areas for everyone, creating valuable opportunities for the built form to strengthen the local character of a place. The choice of site, layout, form and scale of built form, together with good design and well-considered materials, all help to add to local distinctiveness and create a sense of community. In this way, local destinations become recognisable features that help people find their way around and feel a sense of identity. Involving potential users in the design process also helps to achieve this.

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   WATERFORD CITY & COUNTY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2022 – 2028239 Table 8. 1 Case Study: The Power of 10+ Case Study: The Power of 10+: What if we built our city/ villages/ neighbourhoods around place? For public spaces to be successful they need destinations. These destinations need to portray an identity and image to their communities, and help attract new residents, business, and investment. Examples of destinations are: • Squares and plazas. • A main street. • A waterfront. • A park; or • A museum. Our city/ villages/ neighbourhoods should have a minimum of 10 destinations where people want to be. In turn, for each destination to be successful, it should have multiple places/ activities within it. For example, a square needs a place to read the paper or drink a coffee, a place to sit, somewhere to meet friends etc. Ideally, within each destination there should be at least 10 things to do. The Power of 10 aims to develop a critical mass of public space elements that comprise a larger whole, that is greater than the sum of its parts. Creating Attractive Places Policy Objective Place 12 Developments are designed on a multi-functional basis incorporating ecosystem services, climate change mitigation and adaptation measures, utilise green/blue infrastructure elements and provide interlinking high quality, accessible green/blue open spaces with a variety of landscapes, habitats and activities in their design. Place 13 Provide a wide variety of accessible multifunctional public open spaces, for both passive and active uses, including allotments, community gardens, sporting facilities, biodiversity parklands, parklets and “meanwhile gardens” on derelict sites where opportunities arise. Principles underpinning best practice in delivering green/blue infrastructure as set out in the Development Plan policy objectives and development management standards should be used to determine the location and type of open spaces to be provided. Place 14 All new developments shall retain, protect, and ensure the effective management of trees and groups of trees in their design. Place 15 Enhance water management in new developments through Green/Blue Infrastructure. Place 16 To encourage a mix of uses, activities and key destinations in appropriate locations, for example – in our town centres and neighbourhood centres to encourage social interaction and the use of more sustainable transport modes. Place 17 Support investment in urban and village centres, for example on arts and cultural activities, so that they can become more diverse, sustainable and vibrant places for communities to live, work and enjoy Place 18 The design of all residential developments should ensure an appropriate mix, size, type, tenure to meet the needs of residents. Place 19 Encourage increased densities at appropriate locations whilst ensuring that the quality of place, residential accommodation and amenities for either existing or future residents are not compromised. Place 20 Develop destinations in our town, village and neighbourhood centres that allow people to meet and come together as a community;

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   WATERFORD CITY & COUNTY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2022 – 2028240 8.7 Creating Social and Inclusive Places Successful places are designed to be sociable and inclusive environments where people want to visit again and again. The quality of the spaces between buildings is as important as the buildings themselves. Public places such as streets, squares, and other spaces are open to all. They are the setting for most movement and interactions. The design of a public place encompasses its sitting and integration into the wider network of routes, as well as its various elements. These include areas allocated to different users, cars, cyclists and walkers, for different purposes such as movement or parking, hard and soft surfaces, street furniture, lighting, signage and public art and culture. Well-designed places: • Include well-located public spaces that support a wide variety of activities and encourage social interaction, to promote health, well-being, social and civic inclusion. • Have a hierarchy of spaces that range from large and strategic to small and local spaces, including parks, squares, greens and pocket parks. • Have public spaces that feel safe, secure and attractive for all to use. • Have trees and other planting within public spaces for people to enjoy, whilst also providing shading, and air quality and climate change mitigation; and • Have culture and art, especially for new communities to feel that their cultures are respected. Culture will lift a public place into being a place that connects people with each other. Social Interactions Well-designed public spaces are social spaces, providing opportunities for comfort, relaxation and stimulation for all, regardless of the type or tenure of the homes around them. They have widespread appeal, are able to accommodate people with different needs, and can help combat social isolation and loneliness. A well-designed public space that encourages social interaction is sited so that it is open and accessible to all local communities. It is connected into the movement network, preferably so that people naturally use the space throughout the day as they move around. It appeals to different groups. This is influenced by the range of activities that can happen in the space, and who they are for. It is also influenced by the versatility and accessibility of its design. The uses around its edges reinforce its appeal and help make it into a destination.

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   WATERFORD CITY & COUNTY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2022 – 2028241 8.8 The 10-minute neighbourhood/community The 10-minute neighbourhood is not a new idea but one with new significance, especially in response to Covid-19. The concept is about living more locally by giving people the ability to meet most of their daily needs within a 10-minute walk from home, with safe cycling and local transport options. It is about creating connected communities – understanding how our neighbourhoods work so that we can map out how a more compact and permeable urban form can provide high quality and safe links to public transport, shops, services, green spaces, cafes, doctors, childcare and to other neighbourhoods, reducing the need to travel. It brings together a number of policies and initiatives that are already happening: • Place making. • Wellbeing • Empowering communities. • Town Centre First Approach. The ability to work locally is central to the 10-minute concept. The trend of working from home or from your neighbourhood is only likely to increase given the precedent set during the Covid-19 crisis and the government response ‘Making Remote Work’ National Remote Work Strategy. This change to work practices is for the better, it means less commuting, more time for family & leisure, and fewer transport greenhouse gas emissions will be among the benefits. The Council will support measures or investment to facilitate this, including local work hubs. Social and Inclusive Policy Objective Place 21 Ensure all developments include well-located, high quality and attractive spaces which are safe and support social interactions. Place 22 Ensure all areas of private open space have an adequate level of privacy and security for residents through minimising overlooking and the provision of screening arrangements. Place 23 Ensure public open space and public realm is accessible to all users, safe, and designed so that passive surveillance is provided. Place 24 Explore new placemaking projects to link into the “Green Deal” to make our public spaces more social, inclusive and sustainable into the future and to examine EU placemaking funding opportunities in achieving this e.g. URBACT, Interreg or other such funding streams. Place 25 To bring life and vibrancy to our urban centres ensuring that they are social, inclusive and culturally diverse places by planning, designing and retrofitting the public realm with the people who use them in mind.

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   WATERFORD CITY & COUNTY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2022 – 2028242 Figure 8.3 The 10-Minute Neighbourhood, Village, Town, City Concept (Source State Government of Victoria, CC, BY) Many of our urban centres already have the ingredients to achieve 10-minute neighbourhoods. The Council will work with communities to retrofit our existing neighbourhoods and ensure that our new neighbourhoods are compact, mixed-use, green, liveable, accessible and permeable places. Reducing transport demand and encouraging modal shift away from private car use within local communities will be crucial to achieving the 10 minutes. According to the CSO2 for short journeys (less than two kilometres), over half of journeys were by car 52.6%. 2 https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-nts/nts2016/hwt/

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   WATERFORD CITY & COUNTY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2022 – 2028243 10 Minute Neighbourhood Policy Objectives Place 26 To develop a 10-minute neighbourhood framework for all new and existing urban areas across Waterford which allows the everyday needs of people to be meet within a safe walking distance of their homes, for example schools, childcare, health services, shops, public transport and parks. We will collaborate with local communities to identify constraints and implement measures to deliver sustainable 10-minute neighbourhoods. Place 27 To develop a 10-minute neighbourhood framework for all new and existing urban areas across Waterford which allows the everyday needs of younger and older people to be meet within a safe walking distance of their homes, for example schools, childcare, health services, shops, public transport, sports facilities and parks. We will collaborate with local communities to identify constraints and implement measures to deliver sustainable 10-minute neighbourhoods. Place 28 We will work in collaboration with other service providers and voluntary groups to deliver social infrastructure to support strong communities in neighbourhood centres. Place 29 We will identify, designate and provide for site for urban local parks and green/ blue spaces within the neighbourhood/ settlement hierarchy, in collaboration with local communities.

Source Waterford City and County Council: Waterford City and County Development Plan 2022–2028 — Chapter 8 (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.