Council Report No.168, ‘Deepening Compact Growth in Ireland’ – Major benefits to compact growth but factors working against it

• 6 May 2025
• Topics: Housing
• Types: Press Releases

• More investment needed to unlock land suited for compact growth.
• Facilitate more use of corner sites, gardens, backlands, and mews developments.
• Review codes, regulations, and incentives that affect brownfield development.

The first goal of the recently published Draft National Planning Framework (NPF) is compact growth. NESC has published a new report, Deepening Compat Growth in Ireland, which looks at the benefits of compact growth but also the factors working against it.

Compact growth means having more growth within the boundaries of cities, towns, and villages, and the development of new walkable neighbourhoods served by frequent public transport.

Speaking on the publication of the Compact Growth report, Dr Larry O’Connell, Director of NESC, highlighted the many advantages to compact growth – “It means better access to services, more sustainable travel, and a reduction in the cost of public services and infrastructure.” He noted that studies also show that compact growth in urban centres increases productivity and innovation. “Compact growth also helps reduce carbon emissions and delivers other environmental gains,” he concluded.

Noel Cahill, economist with NESC, pointed out that despite the advantages of compact growth, there are pressures working against it – “The search for affordable housing often leads people to buy houses in areas far from where they work and that are car dependent.” He also highlighted that brownfield development, which replaces existing commercial or residential development, tends to be more costly for developers than greenfield development on sites where there was no previous development.

The report shows that the NPF target – that 40 per cent of new housing development within the existing built-up areas of cities, towns, and villages – is being achieved. However, it argues that this target is a modest one and that it continues to be the case that the fastest growth is at the edges and outside of towns and cities.

NESC makes several recommendations to make more progress on compact growth. These include:

• Increasing public investment to unlock land for compact growth, including major urban transformation projects and investment in infrastructure for housing in towns and villages;
• Placing more emphasis on the densification of existing areas to facilitate more use of corner sites, gardens, backlands, and mews developments; and
• Developing a brownfield activation strategy that includes review of the most important codes, regulations, and incentives that affect brownfield development.

 

To read the report in full, please click here.

ENDS.

 

For further information, contact: