elphin local area plan 2009 - 2015 - Roscommon County Council
elphin local area plan 2009 - 2015 - Roscommon County Council
elphin local area plan 2009 - 2015 - Roscommon County Council
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Chapter 9: Urban Development<br />
9. URBAN DEVELOPMENT<br />
9.1 INTRODUCTION AND CONTEXT<br />
Urban <strong>area</strong>s act as vital economic, social and cultural hubs and the continuing challenge is to sustain and<br />
enhance the viability and diversity of these settlements through appropriate development and growth.<br />
Please see Maps 7 – Opportunities and Constraints in Elphin, and Map 8 – Elphin Land Use Zoning, at the<br />
end of this LAP.<br />
9.2 POLICY CONTEXT<br />
National Spatial Strategy, 2002<br />
The NSS places <strong>County</strong> <strong>Roscommon</strong> in the West Region, which has as its goal to promote economic<br />
activity and build balanced regional development by building on the dynamic role of Galway as a gateway<br />
and expanding its influence. Aims within the Strategy include the achievement of more cohesive and<br />
integrated <strong>local</strong> urban communities. The NSS broadly sets out the range of services and facilities that<br />
contribute to the attractiveness of the various settlements within the country. It is acknowledged that there<br />
is a strong relationship between settlement size and the levels of service that can be supported.<br />
Similarly to other <strong>area</strong>s, the NSS notes that it is important to build on the central locations of the key<br />
towns at the intersection of national road and rail routes, the attractiveness of the village structure and the<br />
natural resources of the rural <strong>area</strong>s.<br />
The NSS, especially in the development of gateways and hubs, identifies for <strong>local</strong> authorities where major<br />
future housing needs are likely to arise. This will allow for timely, comprehensive and sustainable<br />
<strong>plan</strong>ning responses that integrate housing provision with employment, services, transport and the <strong>local</strong><br />
environment.<br />
Through combining the location of housing, employment and other services with good transport facilities,<br />
especially public transport, more effective and sustainable mobility within Ireland will be achievable.<br />
Housing availability requires close monitoring to ensure that, within agreed spatial frameworks, whether<br />
at national, regional or <strong>local</strong> levels, housing requirements are matched by the supply of zoned and serviced<br />
land.<br />
The development of socially balanced communities can be supported through catering for social and<br />
affordable and other housing market needs in an integrated way.<br />
Local authorities, under the provisions of Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000, are obliged<br />
to prepare detailed estimates of housing demand for all sectors – private, social and affordable housing –<br />
through the preparation of housing strategies as part of the development <strong>plan</strong> process. It is vitally<br />
important that both housing strategies and development <strong>plan</strong>s take account of the spatial framework<br />
provided by the NSS.<br />
In addition, it will be critical to provide for an adequate supply of land in line with assessments of housing<br />
land needs, through the development <strong>plan</strong> system. Such provision will require<br />
• strategic reservation of land through the development <strong>plan</strong> process, coupled with ensuring<br />
timely and sequential release of land, to avoid delays in the availability and servicing of<br />
land on the one hand and premature release of zoned land on the other.<br />
• broad evaluation frameworks as an aid to the most appropriate spatial locations for<br />
housing land.<br />
Elphin Local Area Plan <strong>2009</strong>-<strong>2015</strong> Page 81