I support housing and planning policy that is consistent with climate policy. The easier way for politicians is to ignore the climate crisis in response to local pressure. I will always be consistent with the evidence produced by the likes of the Planning Regulator, the Climate Change Advisory Council and the Environmental Protection Agency that shows need to scale back on one-off housing for environmental reasons.
We can only properly address the housing crisis, the water pollution crisis and climate crisis by building more apartments and compact housing developments in existing built-up areas and limiting the amount of one-off builds in rural areas.
The Climate Change Advisory Council wrote to the government this week about planning policy and encouraged them to move away from one-off housing. This follows from the Planning Regulator warning that one-off housing is not the way to go, reported last December in the Irish Independent.
“the volume of one-off housing remains relatively static whilst multi-unit developments and apartments vary significantly over time. Going forward it is vital that new dwellings are predominantly located in multi-unit developments sited within easy reach of existing services including transport, health, education and retail.” You can download the letter here.
Housing and planning policy must be consistent with climate policy.
