Sustainable Residential Development in Urban Areas

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Planning Guidelines
• access roads within the site;
• private garden space;
• car parking areas;
• incidental open space and landscaping; and
• children’s play areas where these are to be provided.
It therefore excludes:
• major and local distributor roads;
• primary schools, churches, local shopping etc.;
• open spaces serving a wider area; and
• significant landscape buffer strips.
A net density is the most commonly used approach in allocating housing
land within Local Area Plans and is appropriate for development on infill
sites where the boundaries of the site are clearly defined and where only
residential uses are proposed. It is also appropriate where phased
development is taking place in a major development area (perhaps
spanning different plan periods) and individual housing areas have been
identified.
All densities quoted in these guidelines are net densities.
Methods of controlling residential density
Research carried out in the UK and an examination of case studies in
Ireland indicate that of the various methods employed for measuring
density, dwellings per hectare is the most appropriate measure for
estimating development land requirements, making housing land
allocations, monitoring completions / take up, and in providing a broad
indication of the intensity / form of development envisaged on a site or
area. However, dwellings per hectare is not effective in predicting or
controlling the built form of development on a site - planning standards or
plot ratio are more effective. In large measure the lack of predictability and
consistency of the other methods results from the fact that average size of
dwellings and average area per habitable room can vary substantially (i.e.
terraced townhouses versus large family houses).
Plot ratios can be site specific and vary depending on a range of factors
from the site location, the mix of development, the site context, its open