On February 10, Mr. John Gormley, T.D., Ireland's Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, launched new draft planning guidelines on Sustainable Residential Development in Urban Areas (pdf), which will act as a blueprint for the future sustainable development of Irish cities, towns and villages in the coming years.

The guidelines are accompanied by a best practice urban design manual, (pdf) which illustrates how the guidelines can be implemented effectively and consistently across the different scales of urban development around the country.

The guidelines are focused on creating sustainable communities by incorporating the highest design standards and providing a co-ordinated approach to the delivery of essential infrastructure and services. "An ever-expanding footprint of our urban areas is not sustainable," Minister Gormley said. "In line with the National Spatial Strategy and Regional Planning Guidelines, we must implement policies and practices to consolidate our urban areas by providing for high-density residential development in the right locations which are well-serviced in terms of public transport and community facilities and which are built to the highest possible standards. Providing for and supporting sustainable communities into the future can and will contribute to an overall better quality of life for people."

The objectives of these new guidelines are to:

• Set out stronger planning requirements to facilitate the development of sustainable communities through strengthening planning and the provision of necessary supporting services and amenities;
• help achieve the most efficient use of urban land through housing densities that are appropriate to the location involved and availability of supporting services and infrastructure, particularly transport; and
• set high standards in terms of space and facilities to meet the needs of the Irish context.

The Government's housing policy statement Delivering Homes, Sustaining Communities which was published last year sets out a vision to guide the transformation of the Irish housing sector over the next ten years, by delivering better quality houses and more sustainable communities. This will require that all new residential developments are based on excellent designs, which give people quality homes in quality neighbourhoods.