Settlement Strategy - Small Towns & Villages

Re: Development Plan 2014 - 2020 Review

Housing / Settlement Strategy – Small Towns and Villages

Kilmacow

Dear Sir / Madam,

Further to the recent call by Kilkenny County Council for submissions in respect of the review being undertaken of the existing County Development Plan 2014-2020 and the preparation of a new consolidated Development Plan for the City and the County for the period 2020-2026, I have set out below a number of points which I consider to be relevant and which I believe should be reflected in the provisions adopted in the new Plan.

Originally developed in conjunction with the Kilmacow Local Area Plan 2009-2015, an amended version of the planning framework and zoning map for Kilmacow was adopted in September 2011 as part of Variation No. 2 of the County Development Plan 2008-2014 which was prepared to address a requirement contained in the National Spatial Strategy and the Regional Planning Guidlines in relation to national and regional development objectives. Central to the amendment process was the need to ensure the sustainable development of small towns and villages such as

Kilmacow through the phasing of the zoned development land to satisfy the objectives of the RPGs. That planning framework and zoning map for Kilmacow

continues in the 2014-2020 Plan to be the reference document for proper planning and sustainable development in Kilmacow.

Prior to the adoption of Variation No. 2 of the 2008-2014 Plan the Council had already flagged its position in respect of residential development in Small Towns and Villages in the context of proper planning and sustainable development. In rejecting an Application in January 2011 for an extension of the duration of a Permission for a residential development in Kilmacow, File Ref. No. 10/670, the Council stated that it considered there was a substantial area of zoned housing supply closer to the village core that should be developed first in an orderly sequential fashion and that it considered the development of a site on the outskirts of the village at some distance from existing services and the centre would not be in accordance with proper planning and sustainable development. The Council further stated that recent residential development in Kilmacow had ‘failed to be responsive and sensitive to the village character’. It further stated that Kilmacow had significant deficiencies in the availability and quality of the ‘infrastructure and services necessary to accommodate the needs of the existing community and additional development’.

Very little has changed in relation to the available infrastructure or services in Kilmacow in the intervening years since the adoption of the current planning

framework and zoning map. Neither has there been any visible rush to develop the zoned Phase 1 Residential or General Development lands, with no new

development having taken place and only a single Application, File Ref. No. 17658, for 11 houses and 8 apartments having been lodged for development on the

relevant zoned Phase 1 lands. In addition the lands which were the subject of the unsuccessful Application, File Ref. 10/670, for an extended duration of an earlier Permission would appear to fall into the category of lands ore suited to a Phase 2 zoning based on the Council’s reasons for refusing the Application for the extended duration as referred to above.

Taking the above observations into consideration it is to be hoped that the Council in reviewing its 2014-2020 County Plan will look to retain the current planning

framework and zoning map as the reference document in relation to proper planning and sustainable development in respect of Kilmacow Village.

Yours faithfully,