Brian Leddin
Question:73. Deputy Brian Leddin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his plans to initiate the review of the national planning framework; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47324/22]
View answerWednesday, 28 September 2022
Questions (73)
Written answers
The National Planning Framework published in 2018 is the overall spatial planning and development strategy for Ireland. The NPF, together with the National Development Plan 2021, combine to form Project Ireland 2040 the overarching policy and planning framework for the social, economic and cultural development of Ireland.
The NPF projects that there will be approximately 1 million additional people in Ireland in 2040 over 2016 population levels. The growth strategy seeks to shift the spatial pattern of development in Ireland, overtime, towards more regionally balanced, city focused and compact growth. The strategy is to split population growth roughly 50:50 between the Eastern and Midlands Region (EMRA) and the rest of the country. Preliminary results from Census 2022 show that overall, national population growth is broadly in line with the NPF population projection for 2022. The NPF projected a population of just over 5.1m people in Ireland in 2022 and the Census now indicates 5.123m people (+20,000). However, the distribution of growth over the 2016-2022 period remains weighted in favour of the east with more than half of population growth happening in the Eastern and Midlands Region.
The NPF strategy is at an early stage in its implementation. The associated Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies (RSESs) were adopted in 2019 and 2020. The review of city and county development plans to align with the NPF is ongoing. When completed it will be the first time that there has been an integrated hierarchy of statutory spatial plans in Ireland. Sectoral strategies in areas such as transport, water and enterprise have also been reviewed and align to the NFP strategy. While the transition towards the NPF strategy will take time significant progress has been made in aligning policy across all levels of government with the NPF. This need to allow for transition overtime has been factored into growth targets at a regional and county level.
The Planning and Development Act includes in-built mechanisms to allow for regular review and update of the NPF. The Programme for Government commits to review the NPF by 2024. This review will look at NPF implementation to date and be informed by the final results of Census 2022 when available next year. The review will also consider a range of factors that will influence how we manage future growth in a planned, productive and sustainable way. This will include consideration of Ireland’s obligations under the Climate Action Plan and the influence of geopolitical factors on future growth. It is intended to publish a ‘roadmap’ document by the end of 2022 that will address the review process in more detail.
My Department has also made significant advances in the development of marine policy over the last number of years, culminating in the launch of the National Marine Planning Framework (NMPF) in June of last year, and the enactment of the Maritime Area Planning Act in December 2021, elements of which have already been commenced.
The NMPF creates an overarching framework for decision-making that is consistent with the wider objectives of the NDP, evidence-based and secures a sustainable future for all activities in the maritime area. It contains the objectives, policies and supporting actions which the Government considers necessary to support the effective management of marine activities and more sustainable use of our marine resources.