Comments on Paulstown Masterplan

I am delighted that Kilkenny County Council have selected Paulstown for a masterplan study and believe this indicates the council’s recognition of Paulstown’s growth potential, and their commitment in promoting and assisting Paulstown to securing funding to develop the masterplan vision. The purpose of the masterplan is to provide the community with a robust template that can be used to build on in the future. The masterplan should provide the community with a template for short-term and long-term goals that can be reviewed and developed as the plan takes shape and the community evolves.

I acknowledge that the draft masterplan is based on a study carried out by Turley Consultants and a community consultation carried out in 2023, I am however disappointed with the number of errors and omissions in the plan such as geographical errors and typos. These errors do not suggest the delivery of a well-researched and professional document, as expected. For example, An Choill Rua is a privately owned housing development and not the road name, the river Blackwater listed as a strength on page 29 is in Co. Wexford, the key spatial elements on page 31 are incorrectly labelled, the masterplan interventions on page 35 are mislabelled and contain errors, and there are errors around the GAA club and community land ownership, to mention but a few. On balance there are a number of good building blocks and visions contained within the draft, which I welcome, however, in my opinion, there are two large deficits in the plan that need to be considered and included. These are the development of housing and employment.

Paulstown developed rapidly during the period 2002-2016, however there has been limited development since, despite a significant building boom throughout Ireland in the intervening years. Paulstown benefits from a strong geographical position and transport services. It is however still largely undeveloped, therefore gifting the community the ability to plan the town they want for the future. The population study in the masterplan has been limited to the immediate settlement of Paulstown and does not account for the large hinterland population who are serviced by the village. It is imperative that the masterplan study provides a fully comprehensive population report that will allow for the correct planning of the future development of the village, particularly in respect of Item 1 on the National Development Plan – Compact Growth. There is currently one house for sale and one house for rent in Paulstown, demonstrating the requirement for additional housing. The RSK reports notes that there is a waste-water capacity of 500, thus identifying that there is no potential for any future development or growth within the village if the water services are not immediately addressed. The report fails to include any reference to the refusal of planning permission for 42 residential units at Whitehall (Ref: 19/608) due to lack of capacity with water and wastewater services.

The County Development Plan seeks to encourage the development of economic activity, services and infrastructure provision in the smaller towns and villages of the county and allow for town renewal and serviced site housing provision in smaller towns and villages where services are available and/or planned, at a scale and character which is proportionate, in order to sustain and renew population and services in these areas. Irish Water, in conjunction with Kilkenny County Council, have announced plans for the upgrade of the Gowran Regional Water Supply Scheme and new water treatment plant. Section 10.1.7 identifies Paulstown as a settlement eligible for wastewater deficiencies investment. It is essential for the masterplan to include a report on the current situation in respect of the water services. The capacity of the water services also impacts significantly on the potential economic growth of the village, however, there is still merit in identifying a potential location for future economic activity within the plan, such as a retail or industrial park, to provide a comprehensive overview of what a future Paulstown might look like. This would allow opportunities for the plan to be used to secure future economic activity.

The proposals in the draft plan are very heavily reliant on the cooperation of private landowners and fail to identify alternative options, effectively creating a significantly redundant document if it fails to get the buy in from the private landowners. The document could also go further in respect of suggestions for accessibility, traffic calming, public realm, and signage by offering best practice examples. I note Abbeyleix is included in respect of public realm, however additional examples in respect of all items would be beneficial. The existing signage and traffic calming are functional but have significantly diminished the public realm. The plan also fails to include the development of the GAA playing pitches and future planned clubhouse to the rear of the community hall and community playing pitches (these are noted on your plan as GAA pitches). Thank you for the work conducted to date however, it is my opinion that this draft document and the community would benefit greatly from a second workshop, allowing the community members and consultants to work though the strengths and weaknesses of the proposed plan.