428. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the criteria for a settlement to attain village status; and the number of such applications that have been made, by county, in the past ten years, both successful and unsuccessful. [50865/26]

The local authority Development Plan is the principal planning strategy document which sets out the relevant policies and objectives to guide the physical development of each city and county over a six-year period. All existing development plans were prepared and adopted in accordance with the requirements of the Planning and Development Act 2000. Section 10(2A)(f) of that Act required that the Core Strategy of each county development plan include a settlement hierarchy and provide details of aggregate projected population in villages and smaller towns with a population of under 1,500 persons.

With the majority of Part 2 of the Act of 2000 having recently been repealed, and the corresponding provisions of Part 3 of the Planning and Development Act 2024 brought into operation, all future plan-making will take place under the provisions of the Act of 2024.

Section 43 of the Act of 2024 which sets out the content of the development plan, provides that a settlement hierarchy is a ranking of settlements (the definition of which include villages) in the functional area of the planning authority taking account of their role and functions, having regard to—

(a) any relevant designations in the National Planning Framework and the regional spatial and economic strategy,

(b) the existing and planned population of each settlement,

(c) the type of services available in each settlement,

(d) existing and planned investment in the capacity of transport (including public transport), community facilities, water services, and utility infrastructure, and

(e) the potential for economic and social development of each settlement.

The power to make or vary a development plan is a reserved function and accordingly is a matter for the elected members of each local authority. The plan-making process is subject to oversight by the Office of the Planning Regulator through its statutory plan evaluation function.

The existing settlement hierarchy, and corresponding settlement strategy, for each local authority functional area is set out in the relevant development plans and may be viewed on the respective websites of each planning authority.