Development around Naas has led to ‘weak town centre’ – watchdog

The new planning watchdog has called on Kildare County Council to amend its local area plan for Naas due to concerns it is facilitating increased development on the fringes of the M7 motorway to the detriment of the town centre.

The Office of the Planning Regulator (OPR) has expressed concern that the draft Naas Local Area Plan (LAP) 2019-2023 is continuing and intensifying the trend of the development of a "peripheral arc" alongside the motorway.

An evaluation by the OPR of the five-year plan for Naas said there had been “a sustained shift towards the M7 motorway in recent decades” in terms of town development, which had increased car dependency among local residents.

The OPR said such a shift had been followed by the rapid development of low-to-medium density housing which had resulted in “a weak town centre”.

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One of the key functions of the planning regulator, Niall Cussen, is to ensure that statutory plans and strategies of city and county councils are consistent with legislation and government policy in relation to planning.

The regulator acknowledged the county council had identified the challenge of capitalising on Naas’s strategic economic role as a self-sustaining urban centre, while moving away from unsustainable forms of development.

The draft LAP acknowledges that the development of Naas is “reaching a crossroads”.

Car-based travel

However, the OPR said housing sprawl around Naas and an excessive focus on development near the M7 would draw “car-based” economic activity, given its distance from where people lived.

It said new land-use zonings proposed under the draft LAP for areas near the motorway were predominantly accessible by car rather than public transport and were in locations not attractive for walking or cycling.

“There is an absence of an evidential basis for such zonings,” it said. “There is also a heavy likelihood that development in this area would be likely to add to traffic levels and energy intensive car-based travel.”

The OPR said allowing such a trend to continue would undermine attempts to build a stronger and vibrant town centre and would lead to the lopsided development of Naas.

The regulator said the council needed to revisit elements of the draft plan to ensure it was consistent with regional and national planning policy.

It criticised the absence of a transport investment and delivery plan to facilitate the proposed development of significant new housing projects on the outskirts of Naas.

The OPR also called on the council to show that developments near the motorway would not negatively impact on traffic flows to and from the M7.

It welcomed that the draft plan for Naas, as Kildare’s key urban centre, contained many innovative and positive features including a regeneration strategy for a stalled town centre and the Corban’s Lane area, as well as the “under-utilised” Canal Harbour.

The regulator also praised the council’s intention to use legislation governing derelict and vacant sites to move on stalled developments in the town.

A council spokesperson did not respond directly to recommendations made by the planning regulator.

However, the spokesperson said: “A report is currently being prepared for the elected members which will have regard to all submissions received on the draft LAP.”

Under legislation the council’s chief executive is obliged to provide an explanation to the OPR if it does not accept the regulator’s recommendations.

The OPR can make recommendations to Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government Eoghan Murphy to direct the local authority to make changes to its development plans.