Full Council: 30 November 2020

Councillor Vanessa Liston:
That the council outlines how the current public realm work programme interfaces with and aligns with the mandatory plan-making processes and future development of the county and its towns.

Report: In County Kildare, mandatory (statutory) plans are the County Development Plan and Local Area Plans. These plans address a wide range of areas including housing, economic development, community facilities, amenities, urban centre renewal and retail planning.

The Local Area Plans prepared across the county have more recently been supported by the preparation of Local Transport Plans and other evidence-based reports such as Social Infrastructure Audits and Urban Regeneration Frameworks/Strategies, other supporting documents include Town Renewal Plans.

Where a Town Renewal Plan has been prepared in advance of an LAP, it’s research and findings are incorporated into the Draft LAP.

Where a Draft LAP is prepared in advance of a Town Renewal Plan, the production of a Town Renewal Plan is identified in the relevant LAPs as a future objective for the town or there may be key urban renewal objectives identified. Similarly, the LAP process may identify key public realm interventions that require more detailed design or assessment, as well as urban design frameworks for key sites (typically Key Development Areas). Effectively, the interface is a twoway process.

Under the Town and Village scheme in 2016, funding was made available to Local Authorities for the preparation of Health Checks and Town Renewal Plans. The first application to be submitted by Kildare County Council and funded under this scheme was the Kildare Town Renewal Plan, with other town and village renewal plans underway.

The Town Renewal Plan is informed by extensive public consultation along with a health check (typically including an urban design analysis and public realm strategy). This process identifies key projects in the Town Renewal Plan for future development (and is used to support additional funding applications).

Issued by: Ms M Hunt, Senior Executive Officer, Planning, Strategic Development and Public Realm.