Feeley seeks curb on apartment developments in towns and villages
It was unanimously agreed by elected members to limit the potential construction of new apartment-type developments in small towns and villages.
The change to the Draft CDP came on foot of a motion tabled by Fianna Fáil’s John Paul Feeley, who told the meeting that there had been a “lot of discussion” in the county over the alleged “quality” of some such developments and the perceived “damage” they had done to certain areas.
The 2017 Census revealed that some areas in Cavan were among the least occupied in Ireland residential property.
Top of the list, at the time, was Blacklion, which had the highest percentage of vacant dwellings in the State, at 46.4%.
Cllr Feeley’s motion was to remove certain wording and replace it with ‘Apartment type accommodation in small towns and villages of the county shall comprise of over the shop type, conversion of existing housing stock type proposals or small scale sensitive backland type only. This offers these centres, where the needs arise, to provide for this type of accommodation whilst also providing a suitable use for the reuse of existing and vacant buildings in the small town and village core. Apartment accommodation in small towns and villages shall be of an appropriate scale and extent and in suitable locations only. The extent 60 of development on the site along with the type, scale and density of developments in the vicinity of the site will be a key consideration’.
The CDP states that proposals for new apartment schemes shall be designed in line with criteria as set out in the 2018 Ministerial Guidelines – Sustainable Urban Housing Design Standards for New Apartments - Guidelines for Planning Authorities.
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