At least 126 hectares of land must be rezoned across the county over the next 14 years
At least 126 hectares of land must be rezoned across the county over the next 14 years to meet new housing targets set for South Dublin County Council.
Under the current South Dublin County Development Plan 2022-2028, there is not enough residential land in the region to meet revised targets set by the Government last year.
The Housing Growth Requirements Guidelines for Planning Authorities, released in July 2025, set new annual housing growth requirements for each local authority to 2040.
“The new baseline annual housing growth requirement is 3,217 new dwellings per annum up to 2034 and 2,414 from 2035-2040, which are cumulative delivery targets for types and tenures of housing in the county for those periods,” the council said in a statement to The Echo.
“The current South Dublin County Development Plan 2022-2028 provides for growth of 2,613 per annum to meet the targets at time of adoption and current delivery is broadly aligned to those targets at approximately 2,500 homes per annum as per our housing supply monitor.”
Under the new requirements, the cumulative baseline housing growth target for SDCC to meet by 2028 is 11,699 new homes and 45,803 new homes by 2035-2040.
Forecasted delivery under the current County Development Plan would see 9,613 homes delivered by 2028, a shortfall of 2,086 dwellings, and only 35,480 homes built by 2035/40, a shortfall of over 10,000.
According to the council’s presentation to elected members in November, the land equivalent of this shortfall by 2040 would be between 126 and 252 hectares.
The 16 landbanks earmarked by the council in their presentation will be put to a Part 8 public consultation in the coming weeks.
Additional measures have also been proposed to improve connectivity and “unlock” potential residential lands around the county.
A new Roads Objective was put forward in the presentation to connect “residential zoned lands to Edmondstown Road via Edmondstown Golf Club”, and it was suggested that a School Objective be removed from a site opposite Woodstown Abbey on Stocking Avenue “to enable the delivery” of up to 90 units.
The controversial Newlands Farm site at Gateway and Newlands Cross, owned by developer Hibernia Real Estate Group who unsuccessfully sought to have it rezoned as residential for the County Development Plan 2022-2028, is earmarked along with the Grange Castle golf course and lands to the south-west of Adamstown as long-term “strategic residential lands beyond the lifetime of the current County Development Plan with objective to commence a plan led approach”.
Lands suggested by the council for rezoning to meet critical housing targets will now be subject to a public consultation process, before being added to a variation of the South Dublin County Development Plan 2022-2028.
This variation is set to be voted on by councillors in the coming months.
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