The Ferrybank/Belview Local Area Plan predates the National Planning Framework objectives published in 2018 which determined that there should be a renewed focus on regional cities which included Waterford. The Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy (RSES) for the Southern Region focuses on Cork, Limerick - Shannon and Waterford for the potential for the region taking the pressure away from Dublin. For Waterford this meant new targets for population and employment growth and the designation of a Metropolitan Area based around Waterford City and its suburbs and within both Waterford and Kilkenny administrative areas.
This significant change in targets for population growth, employment growth and the creation of the Waterford Metropolitan Area envisage significantly greater expansion for Waterford City north of the river than the 2017 Ferrybank/Belview Local Area Plan allows for and have in effect rendered that plan now obsolete.
Accordingly it would now seem essential that a firm commitment from Kilkenny County Council is required and commited to within the Kilkenny County Council Development Plan 2021-2027 to review the 2017 Ferrybank/Belview Local Area Plan sooner than 2023 which is mentioned generally as a date of review.
The Kilkenny County Draft Development Plan 2021-2027 must commit a firm timeframe for the 2017 Ferrybank/Belview Local Area Plan to be reviewed given the earlier than expected change for Waterford in targets for population growth, employment growth and having regard for the creation of the Waterford Metropolitan Area
The Ferrybank/Belview Local Area Plan which was introduced in 2017 has been rendered obsolete by the change in targets for population growth, employment growth and having regard for the creation of the Waterford Metropolitan Area.