Vol. 488 No. 1
207 Mr. Flanagan asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if his Department intends to apply rigidly the guidelines on population, in particular to towns of under 6,000 persons in relation to the revised scheme of urban renewal designation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5481/98]
Designations under the proposed new urban renewal scheme will be considered on the basis of integrated area plans prepared by local authorities for areas of greatest priority in urban renewal terms.
Last November, guidelines for the new urban renewal scheme were issued to local authorities. These guidelines, a copy of which is available in the Oireachtas Library, set out the criteria which local authorities are asked to use in the selection of urban areas for which integrated area plans are to be prepared. The document also provides guidance on the types of issues which those plans are expected to address.
In the context of the criteria for selecting areas, the guidelines deal with the important issue of the size of urban areas likely to be suitable for consideration under the new scheme. The point made in the guidelines is that very few towns of less than 6,000 population received designation under the schemes up to now and that such towns would be likely to have greater difficulty qualifying under the criteria for the new scheme.
While the 6,000 population threshold is not a strict limit as such, it reflects the fact that the scheme is concerned with urban renewal and that it will therefore, of its nature, be confined to areas with strong urban characteristics. The indicative population level also reflects the fact that the successful implementation of a scheme of this nature in an urban area requires a minimum level of scale.
The designation of an area under the new scheme could only be considered if it falls within an urban area which the relevant local authority decides is a priority area for which an integrated area plan should be prepared. In that context, if a local authority should decide to prepare such a plan for a town with a population of less than 6,000 the relevant local authority would have to demonstrate how the town meets the criteria for the new scheme.
