Sustainable Residential Development in Urban Areas

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Planning Guidelines
• describing what is distinctive about the character of the small
town or village in terms of its shape and buildings and its
setting in the surrounding countryside;
• drawing up design principles based on conserving distinctive
local character and adapting it to, and integrating it within, new
development;
• ensuring that new development is effectively managed not
prevented, including innovative building and design solutions;
and
• acting as a focus for local communities to research and analyse
their town or village and input into statutory development
plans and local area plans.
Village Design Statements and or other supplementary local
development frameworks are usually best progressed by way of a
partnership between the technical resources of the relevant planning
authority and the local knowledge of local communities and elected
members and use of external facilitators. If it is intended to use such
non-statutory documents for development management, planning
authorities should incorporate them in the development plan or local
area plan for the area by way of variation.
The Department intends to publish further guidance on LAPs which
will address the issue of supplementary local development
frameworks and their relationship to city and county development
plans and local area plans.
Location and site selection
6.6 The National Spatial Strategy (section 5.3) sets the basic criteria in
relation to location and site selection tests for new housing
development. Identifying the most appropriate and sustainable
locations for new housing development should follow this evaluation
framework.
6.7 Above all, the overall order and sequencing of development of small
towns and villages must avoid significant so called “leap-frogging”
where development of new residential areas takes place at some
remove from the existing contiguous town/village and leading to