Major new planning guidelines introduced yesterday are about offering more people houses instead of apartments, according to a leading urban designer.

The guidelines published by the Department of Housing yesterday will see developments built with smaller gardens, fewer car parking spaces and increased bike storage facilities.

Under the old guidelines, a two-bedroom house required 50 sqm of private open space, while a house with three or more bedrooms required 50 – 75 sqm.

The new guidelines reduce those minimums to:

• One-bed house: 20 sqm
• Two-bed house: 30 sqm
• Three-bed house: 40 sqm
• Four beds or more: 50 sqm

The guidelines also state that car parking spaces should be “minimised, substantially reduced or wholly eliminated” in locations that have good access to urban service and public transport.

Meanwhile, all new housing schemes must now include “safe and secure cycle storage facilities”.

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Urban Designer Tom Phillips said the changes “very positive” for the Irish housing system.

“It’s not about … smaller gardens,” he said.

“It is about giving more people the ability to have houses – owned or [rented]; that appears to be what the market is pushing for.

“An Bord Pleanála and the planning authorities have been trying to encourage developers to develop apartments; however, the people who want to buy units wanted to buy houses with their own door.”

He said developers like Glenveagh Housing argued for the changes by pointing to the success of “really fantastic and award-winning” housing schemes with smaller gardens in places like Cambridge in the UK.

Knights Park in Cambridge. Image: Dept Housing

He said the new regulations “include a lot of illustrations” that can give people a good idea of the quality of housing that can be achieved with smaller garden sizes.

“People should see them before making a judgement about whether they have a garden or not, or whether it’s getting smaller,” he said.

“Look at the quality of housing being put forward.”

Mr Murphy said the old regulations about garden size come from the post-war period when many people grew vegetables in their back gardens.

He said the old standards meant just 40% of people could expect a home with their own front door and garden – and that figure could increase significantly under the new standards.

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