CHAPTER 3 Core Strategy
More detail would be very welcome in this chapter, a table indicating population growth targets and breaking them into shorter timeframes.
DESIGNATION of Greystones/Delgany
The draft plan classifies the Greystones/Delgany area as a “self Sustaining Growth Town”. Self-Sustaining Growth Towns are defined as towns with a moderate level of jobs and services – includes sub-county market towns and commuter towns with good transport links and capacity for continued commensurate growth to become more self-sustaining. We believe that this should be re-assessed as Greystones/Delgany does not meet that definitionand this is also in line with the recommendation/submission from theEastern Midland Regional Assembly on this draft CDP.
The area has seen a very high level of development in residential housing in recent years and there are many more planning permissions granted which have yet to be built. The area does not have the public transport, social or cultural or community facilities needed to sustain the current population. It does not have a moderate level of jobs.
A significant “pause” is needed to allow facilities and infrastructure to catch-up and grow at the same pace.
We note the population targets and housing targets in tables 3.6 and 3.7 as follows:
2016 Greystones - Delgany (pop 18,021) and 2031 (target pop 21,630)
Delgany (1,738 units constructed/under construction since 2016 )
It is not clear at what point the data was compiled. Can it be updated prior to key decisions being taken? Construction is ongoing on many sites at present including two large Strategic Housing Developments (SHDs). We would ask for robust data to be compiled in this instance, and use of forecasting and econometric tools could greatly enhance the quality of the data which is crucial for proper future planning. We believe that the data will not justify classifying the area as a Self-Sustaining Growth Town when the RSES has not identified it as such.
While the growth figures seem far in excess of what is required, we welcome the phasing of the housing targets in figure 3.8 and hope that the council will follow through on implementing this phased growth.
Designation as a “Self-Sustaining Town” would seem to be far more appropriate. It would also allow for focus to be put on the development of Bray as a Metropolitan Key Town.
There is a need for further land to be designated for educational, industrial and recreational use before any additional planning permissions are granted. We welcome the social audit of Greystones/Delgany that is underway and hope that it will be used to inform future zoning proposals.We would request that re-zoning of land in this area be limited to the areas that are close to infrastructure which has already been constructed.