Housing plan aims to rejuvenate Dublin's run-down city areas

The regeneration of run-down areas and the establishment of sustainable residential communities within the city are among the main features in the Dublin City Development Plan's proposals on housing.

The document promises an eight-year plan for the redevelopment of Ballymun, to provide a "rejuvenated physical environment" in the context of the economic and social regeneration of the area.

More generally, it pledges Dublin Corporation to the regeneration of all areas of the city which have a high density of local authority housing.

While continuing the policy of encouraging the construction of apartment schemes within the city, the plan seeks to create a better mix of developments.

Among other criteria, apartment schemes will be required to have not more than half of all units in one-bedroom form, and studio apartments and bedsits will be considered only if the overall balance is deemed acceptable.

To ensure flexibility, the plan says, floor plans of small one and two-bedroom units will have to be designed so that at a later time they can be amalgamated into larger units, without major structural alteration.

In a section devoted to Temple Bar, the document concedes that there is "growing concern" that continuing tax incentives are tilting the balance too far in favour of businesses, bars, restaurants and nightclubs.

In line with this, the document lays down criteria under which proposals for new businesses of these kinds will be judged, and says that further development of nightclubs "will not normally be permitted either independently or as part of any new hotel".

Under the plan, the corporation commits itself to encourage the reintroduction of residential uses into Georgian areas of the city, while simultaneously seeking the restoration and protection of the buildings.

In built-up areas of the county borough, the document says it may be necessary to reduce the minimum areas of public open space - which is usually required to be at least 10 per cent of the total site area. But in cases where reduction is allowed, high-quality landscaping or other investments may be required.

On privacy, the plan lays down minimum criteria for private open space. For new apartment developments, the requirement is five sq metres per bed-space in the inner city; eight to 10 sq metres in the transitional zone near the city canals; and 12 to 15 sq metres per bed in the outer suburbs.

The plan criticises the trend for apartment blocks to have their communal open space closed off within the building. Designers of new schemes are asked to explore ways of developing visual links between these spaces and surrounding streets.

In the case of existing houses which are converted to apartments, the existing private open space must be made available to all occupants of the house and shall not be used as car-parking space.

The plan is strongly critical of "insensitive" advertising signs which it says have damaged the character of individual buildings and streets and have had a detrimental effect on historic areas of the city.

"The corporation will seek the removal of such advertisements and permit only [those] which are used sensitively and sympathetically and which enhance the appearance and vitality of an area," it says.

The document estimates that over the five years of the plan, the county borough will contribute between 35 and 40 per cent of the 8,500 residential units required annually in the Dublin region.