Chapter 15: Rural Nodes
Rural Nodes
As outlined in Chapter 2, Rural Nodes include:
- Ballymurphy
- Drumphea
- Garryhill
- Grange1
- Newtown
- Newtown Fennagh
- Rathanna
These settlements are the lowest tier in the settlement hierarchy and comprise of cluster of developments where public wastewater and / or public water infrastructure is currently not provided. These nodes contain important services including schools and community facilities supporting the surrounding rural area. Rural nodes are designated for small scale limited development at a sustainable scale for immediate local need including one-off housing for persons who comply with the local need criteria, local services, small scale employment and community facilities. The Council will support high quality designed development on appropriate sites in rural nodes subject to proper planning considerations and the environmental carrying capacity of the area.
Consideration of planning applications for development within the nodes will have regard to the role and form of the node within the wider rural area with particular care being taken that these settlements do not compete with the designated larger and smaller serviced villages in the services they provide or the role and function they play within the rural area.
Rural Nodes - Policies
It is the policy of the Council to:
RN. P1: | Require persons who apply for one off housing in the rural nodes to comply with the local need criteria as contained in Section 3.16. A minimum site area of 0.2 hectares (0.5 acres) for each residential unit will be required in rural nodes where serviced by an individual waste water treatment plant. |
RN. P2: | To ensure that proposals for new development take account of the character of the area and where possible retain existing features such as building line, height, railings, hedgerows, trees, gateways etc. All development in rural nodes should take cognisance of the prevailing scale, pattern of development and the environmental capacity to accommodate the development. |
RN. P3: | To support the expansion of existing educational facilities within the rural nodes and to promote the provision of childcare facilities to meet local demand and encourage the location of such facilities near schools where possible. |
RN. P4: | To encourage the provision of community facilities and services / employment together with local small-scale convenience shops, exclusive of service stations, at an appropriate scale in rural nodes where there is a clear deficiency in retail provision, subject to the protection of residential amenity and the rural character of the area. |
RN. P5: | To promote the development of brownfield sites in rural nodes, if existing, as appropriate. Suburban type developments or multiple housing will not be permitted. |
RN. P6: | To seek to ensure that strong linkages to the rural node are provided and that new development addresses connectivity to local services, community facilities etc with the provision of footpaths, where deemed appropriate. |
Rural Nodes - Objective
It is an objective of the Council to:
RN. O1: | To monitor and review rural nodes in the County, across the lifetime of the Plan, in order to ensure compatibility with the Core Strategy and environmental protection objectives. |
Ballymurphy Settlement Boundary
Drumfea Settlement Boundary
Garryhill Settlement Boundary
Newtown Settlement Boundary
Newtown/Fennagh Settlement Boundary
Rathanna Settlement Boundary
1Grange is serviced by a number of WWTPs not in the control of Irish Water and therefore is designated as a rural node pending resolution of capacity and service constraints.