COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF DEVELOPMENT PLAN MEETING
Tuesday, March 01, 2022
MOTION NO. 18
MOTION: Councillor E. O'Brien, Councillor V. Casserly
Motion: 'That this Council retain the proposed 'RES' zoning for Cooldrinagh Lane as per the draft South Dublin Development Plan zoning map. This includes the amendment of the existing 'Rural and Agriculture' (RU) zoning to 'Existing Residential' (RES), to facilitate land use which is consistent with the existing settlement pattern in this particular area and remains consistent with National Planning Policy. Local Objective CS11 SL01 Submission SD-CD195-227 Recommendation 5, CE Report Core Strategy, Pg 38. Submitted by Cllr Ed O'Brien and Cllr Vicki Casserly
REPORT:
The motion proposes that the Draft Plan zoning of ‘RES’ with associated SLO on lands at Cooldrinagh Lane be retained reflecting a change of zoning from the current 2016 Development Plan where it is zoned Rural and Agriculture (RU). It is also noted that Motion IDs: 73958 and 73969 have also requested that the lands be retained as ‘RES’.
It should be noted that previous motions requesting the subject lands be rezoned to ‘RES’ from ‘RU’ was put forward at pre-Draft Plan stage (CE Draft Plan) under Motion IDs: 71057, 71223 and 71224. The Chief Executive’s recommendation to retain the RU zoning was rejected, and the subject lands were zoned Objective RES as part of the Draft Plan.
Recommendation 5 of the submission from the Office of the Planning Regulator (SD-C195-227) requires the Planning Authority to retain the zoning objective RU on the subject lands and to omit Specific Local Objective (SLO) CS11 SLO1 from the Draft Plan.
The OPR has indicated that the evidence-based land capacity analysis carried out for the Development Plan has demonstrated that there is no need to zone additional land. Additionally, the OPR has stated that the location of the lands along Cooldrinagh Lane in the open break between Lucan and Leixlip is inappropriate for further residential development. Taking the proposed location of the lands and the land capacity analysis, the OPR indicates that the proposal to zone the lands to RES is contrary to National Policy Objective 3b supporting compact growth and Regional Policy Objectives RPOs 5.2, 5.3 and 5.4 for the Dublin Metropolitan Area.
Having examined and considered the content of the motion, and taking account of the recommendation of the OPR, the recommendation of the Chief Executive remains unchanged for the following reasons:
The Core Strategy and Settlement Strategy in Chapter 2 sets out population and housing figures which must be consistent with the National Planning Framework (NPF) and the Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy (RSES) as required under the Planning and Development Act 2000 (As Amended). South Dublin County is anticipated to grow by 46,518 persons with the housing target for the County, as set by Ministerial Guidelines and the NPF Road Map, being 17,817 homes between 2021 and 2028. Chapter 2 of the Draft Plan also confirms that the County has enough land for a further 10,470 units (79%) above the net household need and therefore there is no need to re-zone additional lands or zone new additional lands over and above those currently set out under the current 2016 County Development Plan. Having regard to above figures set out in the Core Strategy and the current excess of zoned land, without the need for further zoning, it is considered that there is sufficient flexibility to meet the household requirements for 2031 and potentially up to 2040.
It should be noted that the revised target figures of 15,576 for the Plan 6-year period in response to the Office of the Planning Regulator (OPR) recommendations, set out separately under the response to the OPR in the CE Report, do not impact on the excess land capacity available to meet the revised targets. Therefore, to re-zone or zone new additional lands over and above those currently set out in the Draft Plan would be contrary to National and Regional planning policy.
To re-zone the subject land for Existing Residential (RES) would give rise to an inappropriate densification of urban type development in this remaining rural area which acts as a green space separating Leixlip and Lucan, accessed from the Lucan-Celbridge Road. Furthermore, urban generated housing development within the rural area which would be facilitated through the adoption of this motion, would result in and promote urban sprawl of the Dublin City and Suburbs boundary and be contrary to the rural housing guidelines which seek to prevent urban generated housing in rural areas.
Parts of the subject lands are also within the current noise zones for Weston Airport where the objective is to limit residential and other noise sensitive development. It is known that there are already complaints of noise from aircraft flying from Weston – to facilitate increased housing in this area is not recommended from a health perspective of new residents or for the operation of the airport.
It is considered that this motion is contrary to CS6 Objective 2, CS6 Objective 3 and Policy CS11 of the Draft Plan.
Having regard to the context set out above and the National Policy Objective 3b supporting compact growth and Regional Policy Objectives RPOs 5.2, 5.3 and 5.4 for the Dublin Metropolitan Area it is considered that the recommendation of the OPR should be adhered to and the RES zoning and associated SLO should be removed and replaced by the zoning ‘RU’.
CE Recommendation: To rezone the lands Rural and Agriculture ‘RU’ from the Draft Plan ‘RES’ and omit the SLO