elphin local area plan 2009 - 2015 - Roscommon County Council

Chapter 9: Urban Development
Energy Performance in Buildings Directive, 2005
Arising from the Kyoto Protocol, the EU has set the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions as an
important objective. The most significant greenhouse gas is CO2, primarily from energy use, and over
40% of such emissions derive from energy use in buildings, including 27% from housing. (The energy
used in buildings could be reduced by having more energy efficient design and construction.) The EU
adopted the Energy Performance in Buildings Directive in 2002 and it has since been transposed into Irish
legislation. Legislation requires:
• the energy rating of newly constructed buildings, existing buildings (when existing buildings are
let or sold) and of public service buildings;
• improvement of the energy efficiency of certain classes of boilers and heating installations; and
• inspection of air-conditioning systems.
Energy rating requires that in the design of a building a performance target must be set out and when the
building is completed it must perform as well as or better than the target.
“Action on Architecture, 2002 – 2005”, Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the
Islands.
The Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands published “Action on Architecture, 2002 –
2005”. The aim of the policy was to place architecture higher on the political and cultural agenda,
focusing on three central themes:
• Promoting awareness and understanding of architecture;
• Leading by example; and,
• Strengthening the architectural input in the planning process.
Development Plans: Guidelines for Planning Authorities, DoEHLG, June 2007
The 2000 Act provides that a planning authority may prepare a local area plan for any area within its
jurisdiction for which it considers such a plan to be suitable, and in particular for those areas that require
economic, physical and social renewal, and for areas likely to be subject to large scale development within
the lifetime of the development plan.
In providing development frameworks for particular areas, or parts of an area, local plans should address
relevant issues in greater detail than in the development plan, but on a basis consistent with the approach
of the development plan for the overall area.
The development plan is thus the ‘parent’ document, which sets out the strategic framework within which
the zoning and other objectives of the local area plan must be formulated. For example, the zoning of
lands for use solely or primarily as residential development should have regard to the Council’s housing
strategy.
Section 10(2) (a) of the 2000 Act requires that a development plan shall include objectives for:
“the zoning of land for the use solely or primarily of particular areas for particular purposes (whether
residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural, recreational, as open space or otherwise, or a mixture of
these uses) and to such extent as the proper planning and sustainable development of the area, in the
opinion of the planning authority, requires the uses to be indicated.”
Elphin Local Area Plan 2009-2015 Page 84