'Significant boost' in housing to be delivered through Kildare County Council

Kildare County Council is due to facilitate a “significant boost” in housing growth in the county, the local authority has stated this week. 

Following the publication of the Section 28 Guidelines on National Planning Framework Implementation – Housing Growth Requirements (2025), local authorities are now tasked with planning for the delivery of up to 83,000 new homes annually across Ireland to 2040. 

The new Ministerial Guidelines call for a significant increase in housing delivery nationwide, and Kildare County Council is embracing this challenge, having already made strong progress under the Kildare County Development Plan 2023–2029 (as varied).

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The Plan will now be varied to align with the updated housing growth requirements. 

Kildare County Council’s approach to the forthcoming variation will be guided by the principles of Project Ireland 2040 - the National Planning Framework, the Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy, and the Government’s Housing for All – a New Housing Plan for Ireland.

These policy documents continue to guide all plan preparation in County Kildare and support a shift towards compact growth, regeneration of existing urban areas, and the delivery of sustainable communities.

Kildare County Council’s Planning Department, working in partnership with the Elected Members, will now begin work to translate the new housing growth requirements into the County Development Plan.  This  will include:

• An audit of current capacity of existing zoned lands, including the serviceability status and planning status

• An updated core strategy to align with new housing growth requirements

• The release of zoned and serviced housing lands to unlock additional housing

• Additional housing allocations to support new Settlement Plans to be published from early 2026

• Identification of long-term strategic development sites to facilitate the ongoing pipeline for future housing and infrastructure delivery for life of the current County Development Plan and beyond.

Sonya Kavanagh, Chief Executive, Kildare County Council, commented: "This is a moment of opportunity. Kildare is well-positioned to respond to the Government’s call for increased housing delivery. We have already demonstrated our capacity to achieve targets over the last decade, and we are ready to go further — strategically, sustainably and with the delivery of requisite community facilities and critical enabling infrastructure at the heart of every decision."

This work will be closely followed by a full review of the Kildare County Development Plan, set to begin in August 2026. 

Next Steps

Kildare County Council’s Planning Department will now take the necessary steps to publish a draft variation of the County Development Plan to incorporate the new housing growth requirements.   Once the Draft Variation to the Kildare County Development Plan 2023-2029 is published, submissions and observations will be invited during a statutory public consultation period.

Details of this will be made available on Kildare County Council’s dedicated consultation portal consult.kildarecoco.ie .

Interested parties are encouraged to register to receive regular updates.