Part 3 Small Town Plans (Type 2) - Avoca, Donard, Newcastle, Roundwood, Shillelagh

LEVEL 6 SMALL TOWN PLANS (TYPE 2) 

Avoca, Donard, Newcastle, Roundwood, Shillelagh 

This volume of the Wicklow County Development Plan 2021 – 2027 comprises Land Use Plans for Level 6 towns in the County (with the exception of Kilmacanogue). 

Level 6 settlements in County Wicklow are the smallest ‘towns’ of the County, but still provide important economic and social services to their population and rural hinterland. Such towns normally have a reasonable range of infrastructural services and are suited to accommodating some urban generated housing demand, with necessary controls in place to ensure that new development is in proportion to the scale, grain and pattern of the settlement. Level 6 ‘Small Towns Type 2’ are differentiated in the County Development Plan from Level 5 ‘Small Towns Type 1’ having regard to their more rural character, the rural nature of their catchments and their lower capacity for significant growth.   

The plans for these settlements started being incorporated into the County Development Plan in 2002 and this plan format and adoption process has now been reinforced by changes to the Planning Act in 2010 which specifically allows for objectives for towns under the LAP threshold (5,000) to be included in the County Development Plan. The development plan for the Level 6 town of Kilmacanogue previously formed part of the County Development Plan but has been subsumed into the Bray Municipal District Local Area Plan. 

All efforts shall be made to minimise repetition of County Development Plan objectives in these Small Town Plans, unless it is considered necessary to emphasise assets or restate objectives that have particular relevance and importance to that settlement. Development standards, retail strategies etc that are included in the County Development Plan shall not be repeated. Any specific policies / objectives or development standards required for a particular town will be stated as precisely that, and in all cases will be consistent with the County Development Plan. Thus development standards will be the same across the entire County, and any differences for specific settlements would be clear and transparent, to both those adopting the plans, and the general public alike. 

Furthermore, these Small Town Plans shall only include objectives that are settlement specific and achievable, and avoid those that are aspirational or are best dealt with in the annual budget, road works programme, etc. The role of land use plan is to put in place framework within which development can occur, but does not decide what works actually get done by either private individuals or public bodies. The delivery of objectives will be determined by the initiation of private development or by the allocation of public funding through the annual budgetary process, which is a separate process to any land use plan.  

Therefore this volume shall take the following format: 
Section 1: Sets out the high level strategies and objectives that are common to all Level 6 towns 
Section 2: Sets out the common zoning objectives for all Level 6 towns 
Section 3: Sets out detailed plans for Level 6 settlements: 

• Avoca
• Donard
• Newcastle
• Roundwood
• Shillelagh

Each ‘detailed plan’ will include only those objectives that are relevant to that town and shall incorporate a land use map, a heritage map and any other maps considered necessary for that town.  

Continue reading Part 2: Small Town Plans (Type 2). Download PDF