COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF DEVELOPMENT PLAN MEETING

Thursday, June 18, 2015

MOTION NO. 176

MOTION: Councillor L. O'Toole

That the Development Plan acknowledges the importance of enterprise in the county and actively encourage the availability for facilities to be managed by the council or an appointed enterprise board;

• That the requirement of enterprise centres in the main towns in the county will be reviewed.

• That the option of live to work enterprise centres be looked at as a condition of large residential developments

• That an allocation of enterprise facilities be made in a condition in all future grants of permission commercial developments.

Co-sponsored by Cllrs Guss O’Connell and Paul Gogarty

REPORT:

The CE Draft Plan seeks to emphasis the importance of enterprise in the County and supports and facilities the provision of enterprise centres and incubation hubs, in accordance with actions identified by the Local Enterprise Office (LEO).

The Local Economic and Community Plan (LECP) will set out objectives and actions to promote and support economic activity in the County. South Dublin County Council commenced preparation of the LECP in November 2014 and it will be adopted by South Dublin County Council in 2015. The LECP will include analysis of the economic, local and community profile of the County. Actions may include business support initiatives such as the delivery of Incubation Hubs at appropriate locations based on needs analysis.

The CE Draft Plan supports the provision of live-work units as part of mixed use developments in appropriate locations in Chapter 4 Economic Development & Tourism (Policy 4 pg 68). Furthermore, the Plan is generally positive towards the provision of small scale home based economic activities in existing dwellings.

It is considered that imposing a condition on all grants of permission for commercial development to allocate enterprise facilities would adversely impact on the economic development and competitiveness of the County. It is recommended that this section of the motion is not adopted.

Recommendation

It is recommended that this motion is adopted with amendment to alter ET1 Objective 7 and ET4 Objective 2 to state:

ET1 Objective 7:  To support and facilitate the provision of enterprise centres and incubation hubs at appropriate locations, in accordance with actions identified by the Local Enterprise Office, through the Local Economic and Community Plan or by other enterprise support initiatives.

ET4 Objective 2: To support and encourage the provision of ground floor live-work units as part of mixed-used and residential developments in appropriate locations, as a means of enlivening streets and to provide flexible accommodation for small businesses.