Draft Minutes 13th Oct - Fingal County Council

2026
the open countryside and provides for alternative options within the rural area
either in the villages or rural clusters as a more sustainable and suitable location
for rural generated housing. Areas which are particularly sensitive to ongoing
incremental housing growth, i.e. the Greenbelt and High Amenity zoned areas, are
limited to more essential needs with the broader rural community who wish to
remain in the rural area qualifying for housing in villages and rural clusters.
Allowing certain individuals to be excluded from this policy would contradict this
overall approach.
This motion would unfairly allow certain individuals to be favourably treated in
comparison to all other families with connections within the rural area.
The motion if adopted would allow the sale of the site on the open market, thereby
opening up the possibility of urban-generated housing development on the site.
Government policy as articulated by the National Spatial Strategy and the
Sustainable Rural Housing: Guidelines for Planning Authorities of April 2005,
classifies the rural area of Fingal as “an area under strong urban influence”
where the housing requirements of the rural community should be facilitated but
urban-generated housing should be directed to areas zoned for new residential
development in cities, towns and villages. This approach is reflected in the
Regional Planning Guidelines for the Greater Dublin Area (5.2.2). The inclusion in
the Fingal Development Plan of objectives facilitating the development of rural
housing outside of the provisions of the rural settlement strategy would thus run
counter to national and regional policy.
Finally, Strategic Policy No. 12, adopted by the Council in October 2009, is to:
Provide viable options for the retention of the rural community by the promotion
of a controlled growth of the rural villages and clusters balanced with careful
restriction of residential development in the countryside.
The current and proposed rural settlement strategies provide for the
implementation of this Strategic Policy. The exemption of certain sites from
compliance with the settlement strategy would undermine the Strategic Policy
and lead to an increase in the number of houses being developed in the rural area
and inappropriate and unsustainable settlement patterns, giving rise to problems
which include:
• Threats to surface water and ground water quality from private waste
water treatment systems, having regard in particular to the poor
percolation characteristics of much of Fingal’s soil;
• Unsustainable car dependent commuting patterns;
• High costs of public services in comparison to more consolidated
development patterns;
• Erosion of the rural character and visual quality of the countryside and of
the potential of the rural landscape as a resource for tourism;