The first planning strategy to be commissioned by three local authorities has been adopted as a policy document by all three bodies, providing a blueprint for the development of the greater Drogheda area and a doubling of its population.
The strategy was commissioned by Drogheda Borough Council, Louth County Council and Meath County Council, which asked RPS Planning Consultants for an interlinked strategy for the period to 2024.
The consultants said the strategy "provides a framework within which the future planning of the area will take place. It will inform the content and implementation of present and future statutory plans."
Over its lifetime it predicts the population of the greater Drogheda area, which extends into large tracts of land in the county council areas of both Louth and Meath, will reach 90,000 by 2024. At the moment the population of Drogheda, its environs and the coastal area of east Meath is just over 41,000.
At the moment the plan is a policy document and has no statutory basis but has taken account of areas already earmarked for future development including the northern environs of Drogheda and Bryanstown on the Drogheda border with Meath. Developers have expressed interest in both Bryanstown and the northern environs and the latter are in discussions with Louth County Council.
Key infrastructure proposed include new roads linking the M1 motorway with the N1, which is the former Dublin to Belfast road, on the southside and northside and opening up access to other lands, as well as creating an outer ring road for Drogheda. The plan also envisages at least one new bridge over the Boyne.
It confirms that the zoned landbank in the study area for both employment and residential use is "substantial". There are approximately 580 hectares of residentially zoned land in total in the core area that are undeveloped at present.
This landbank "could accommodate a population of between 50,000 to 60,000 persons, thereby potentially trebling the overall population of Drogheda from the current estimated level of approximately 32,300 persons to around 90,000 persons", it says.
"Further to this, there are approximately 400 hectares of greenfield and other undeveloped sites zoned for employment uses."