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HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS IN city centres could radically increase in density as the Government prepare to bring new planning guidelines to consultation.
New policy proposals went to Cabinet yesterday, with Minister Darragh O’Brien due to publish a paper on reforming the existing Sustainable Residential Development Guidelines.
Alongside changes to housing density, there are proposals to reduce the number of car parking spaces in urban areas with high access to public transport facilities.
As part of the plan, O’Brien is seeking to make the guidelines more flexible around densities in urban areas, particularly cities and larger towns.
Currently, there is a three-tiered approach to density. This includes 35 dwellings per hectare (DPH) in villages and small towns, 35 to 50 DPH in suburban areas and over 50 DPH in urban areas.
A hectare is 10,000 metres squared.
Under the Government’s proposed policy, dwelling densities would increase massively in cities, particularly in city centres where it would rise to between 100 and 300 DPH.
Outside the direct city centre, densities would rise to between 40 DPH and 200 DPH, while in suburban areas it would sit at 40 to 80 DPH.
Both large towns and metropolitan areas will also see a rise in residential density guidelines, while rural housing will be based on the local context.
Alongside changes to housing densities, the memo detailed plans to curtail the number of car parking spaces in urban areas based on access to public transport networks.
The plan to reduce parking spaces is part of an attempt to meet targets set out in both the Climate Action Plan and the National Sustainable Mobility Policy.
The memo says that car parking spaces in cities and large towns should be “graduated” based on both location and access to public transport.
In particular, in areas where there is high access to public transport, residential car parking provision should be minimised or entirely eliminated.
Outside cities and large towns, availability of spaces should be based on access to public transport.
In areas with low public transport accessibility, the Government proposes that there be a maximum of two car parking spaces per house or apartment.
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Shows what he knows. The reason we have too many cars on Irish roads is because the public transport systems aw not fit for purpose
@Joe x: fewer cars = more room for public transport/active transport = better public transport/active travel. Sometimes the stick must come before the carrot.
@Name not provided: but then what happens if more and more ppl get out of their cars and use public transport and get rid of the car (many of course will still keep them) but revenue for Car Tax and petrol will decrease. Our carbon credit purchase will decline yes but you can be damn sure they will increase/tax something to bring it in somewhere else!
More like empty buses tailgating each other and preventing flow of other traffic.
@Mike 100: ah right, it’s too many busses that are the problem. Not all the queues single-occupancy vehicles I see every day on my commute.
Sure in Galway the traffic is stymied with hundreds of traffic lights strategically placed to prevent the flow of all traffic in the name of cyclists .. thanks green party … wasters of the hard working taxes
@Jimmy Wallace: try commuting to WORK sometime in Galway. I don’t have all day like some to make stories up Jimmy .
@Jimmy Wallace: they love an auld conspiracy on this forum Jimmy.
Cars have become a great litmus test for determining if a public figure is a bluffer or not. Anyone who says cars are the problem clearly doesn’t know what they are talking about. Its like saying the problem with hospitals is too many sick people. Why don’t they stay at home and google home remedies.
@Keyser Söze: Perhaps a better analogy would be that 50% of car journeys are like people overloading an A&E with minor sniffles and small bruises.
Definitely true, but we need GOOD public transit in order to fix the issue. We also need AFFORDABLE housing along public transit routes. Paying 1/2 million euro for a 1-bed hovel or 2,000/month for a glorified bedsit and absolutely having to bear the extra expenses of a car and parking in Dublin during the work day is insane. We need a revolution in public transit and a paradigm shift in housing.
@Todd Hebert: Nothing will be done, because nothing is what we do best.
Almost all the hospitals are city centric,do they think all patients are capable of walking or cycling in and out .. TOTAL CRASS Thinking
@Michael James Brennan: They don’t think that, that’s why you won’t hear anyone saying that cars should be banned from accessing hospitals (feel free to tell me who does). The reality is, that many if not most people visiting a hospital can do so using public transport, walking or cycling. I visit a hospital twice a year. I do so by cycling or taking the bus to it.
Decent public transport would help….
@Tom Newell: which requires fewer cars on the road.
Wasn’t bus connects supposed to sort out a lot of this? I know that it isn’t fully implemented yet. We have no metro and not much light rail. Alternatives are few and far between. Long stretches of little investment are coming home to roost.
Improve the public transport throughout Ireland, then there might be less cars. Start with the pricing structure.
He is right,there is way to many cars on roads
Maybe if your buses were punctual and reliable, people wouldn’t need their cars
Public transport where I live us fantastic, world class
That crash on the M50, I hope no-one was injured, took 7 of them off the road.
There’s been several very progressive and smart proposals put to Government over the last decade alone that would more than help resolve this issue. Proposals such as reliable park and ride facilities based on all the main arteries leading into the city, each dotted 10km or so outside the city centre is one that would easily work if operated properly.
Others such as ways to arange and incentivise car pooling in a monetary way could also work as part of an overall strategy. But it’s obvious to see even with the Greens in and these solutions being also pro – green, there’s no appetite from Government to do anything to implement and change the situation
Just to clarify and add to my comment.. Its the amount of single passenger cars
Is that the reason they Scrapped the X21 SERVICE GALWAY DUBLIN
have your say