The Meath County Development Plan 2021-2027 has now entered its fourth year, with Meath County Council’s Planning Department overseeing a large number of residential and commercial projects being completed and securing funding for several new recreational and sports facilities, as they continue to focus on delivering a high-quality living and working environment for the over 220,000 residents of the County.
This focus is set against the ambitions of the Development Plan to support future growth, sustainability and the creation of socio-economically progressive, vibrant, dynamic, and healthy communities in Meath.
Speaking today, Director of Services for Planning and Strategic Projects Padraig Maguire said: “Meath County Council has always been very clear in its vision and that is to make Meath even better. To do this, proper planning is instrumental, as is having the right systems in place to ensure a measured, consistent approach. Every application, project, strategy and sub-strategy has to be dealt with meticulously, taking into account a myriad of complex issues and sensitivities."
A 2024 report by the Office of the Planning Regulator (OPR) described these systems put in place by Meath County Council's Planning Department as "effective and robust" and highlighted innovative practices including the development of a customised software solution to ensure planning compliance submissions are dealt with in a statutorily required eight-week timeframe.
The report states that “Meath County Council’s planning department operates in a complex planning environment, experiencing some of the most significant rates of growth in the country while maintaining an emphasis on protecting Meath’s rural character. In recent years the Council has been managing higher than average numbers of planning applications, many of which are large in scale and complex in nature, while striving to maintain a sensitive and sustainable approach to development.”
It also goes on to write that the Planning Department “benefits from clear leadership, a strong team ethic and a positive working culture.”
"We are pleased with the acknowledgement provided in the very thorough report of our service by the Office of the Planning Regulator", said Padraig Maguire. “As we work on a large number of projects to make Meath a better place, it’s rewarding to be recognised nationally but also important for us to see we are on the right track.”
Some of the facilities granted planning permission in 2023/2024 alone include six medical centres, nine creches, four school extensions and eight all-weather playing pitches, in addition to 3,165 residential completions over the same period.
Funding has also been secured for vital projects in the county including the Seafield Community Facility in East Meath which will feature eight lane athletics track with floodlights, long jump, high jump and 3G soccer pitch, the Trim Indoor Arena Athletics Facility, and four new GAA pitches in Laytown, an area of very significant demand and population growth.
Planning permission was granted by Meath County Council in 2023/2024 for over 6,000 square metres of commercial office floorspace, 12,000 square metres in the industrial sector, and over 48,000 and 20,000 square metres in the warehousing/logistics and retail industries respectively.
At the same time, the Planning Department has been progressing strategies and projects to enhance the quality of the natural and built environment of the county and has contributed to funding of over €7.8 million being awarded to the Council in 2024 for heritage, conservation and biodiversity initiatives including the conversion of old St. Patrick’s Classical School in Navan into a Cultural Hub. 2025 will see the opening of the Kells printworks, a centre of typographic excellence with exhibition, workshop and class space, which has been overseen by the heritage office of the planning department, and the adoption of a new county Biodiversity Action Plan.
“The work we do is under constant review against a rapidly changing national picture, but we remain committed to realising the ambitions set out in the Development Plan in 2021 and I firmly believe we are on our way to doing this”, concluded Padraig Maguire.