The Town and Regional Planning Act, 1934 was an Act to “…make provision for the orderly and progressive development of cities, towns, and other areas, whether urban or rural and to preserve and improve the amenities thereof…”. Prior to the introduction of this Act, the issue of planning arose in local authorities only in terms of the Public Health Acts and the alteration or removal of buildings was carried out in response to hazards to public health. The Town and Regional Planning Act was introduced in order to establish forward planning and the Act envisaged the drawing up of plans by local councils for the orderly development of towns. However, the Act was discretionary and local authorities were under no legal obligation to draw up these development plans and indeed, did not have any experience or expertise in the drawing up of such plans. The Act was revised in 1939 and efforts were made to address the matter of planning at a Planning Conference in 1943. The first file in this collection provides evidence of the difficulties experienced in introducing the Act in Waterford County (WCC/PLN/TP/1). The Town and Regional Planning Act operated in a limited fashion within the County of Waterford. Planning Application forms were produced and the public did make a number of planning applications during the period 1936 and 1964. On 30th October 1947 Waterford County Council issued a notice to “…property owners, builders, engineers, architects, estate agents and others concerned with proposed building works or development works in the County Health District of Waterford” (WCC/PLN/TP/76) informing them that plans and specifications of proposed building works had to be submitted to Waterford County Council for approval and that failure to do so and gain permission from Waterford County Council for such works could result in the removal of the works or their alteration. The applications do not continue beyond 1964 as the Town and Regional Planning Act was repealed and replaced with the Planning Act, 1963 and from 1 October 1964 Waterford County Council established a new register and collection of planning files under the Planning Act, 1963.
Archival History ↴
The files were located in a cupboard in Arus Brugha, Dungarvan, offices of Waterford County Council until 2001. Following the move of Waterford County Council to new premises in the Civic Offices, Davitt’s Quay, Dungarvan they were taken into the custody of the Archives Service.
Immediate Source Acquisition ↴
Official Transfer
Content & Structure
Scope & Content: Waterford County Council ↴
This collection contains the files and planning applications that were created by Waterford County Council in response to the Town and Regional Planning Act, 1934. WCC/PLN/TP/1-4 are files on the Act and its operation within the County in general and WCC/PLN/TP/5-867 are the planning applications themselves. The files contain very limited information, many of the files only provide the application form and no further details but some of the applications also include further correspondence. Unfortunately, there are no plans of the structures mentioned in the applications included in the files although the notice issued by Waterford County Council in 1947 requesting such plans and references in the files themselves indicate that plans were in existence at one time but these records have not survived. The applications range from applications for individual houses to applications for schools, garda stations, creameries and other local developments. While the information in the files is limited the collection does present researchers with the opportunity to discover the date a particular building was built. The files contain references to the need for building licences during and immediately after the Second World War when building supplies were limited and only building works considered essential were licensed. WCC/PLN/TP/76 concerns the building of an unauthorised cinema in Portlaw in the years 1948-1958 and WCC/PLN/TP/230 refers to the building of an annexe to the Regal Cinema in Tallow for use as a supper room in 1952-1953, amenities no longer available in these towns.
Appraisal Destruction ↴
Permanent Retention
Accruals ↴
Further additions anticipated
Arrangement ↴
The collection has not been re-arranged but has been left with the numbers that were originally provided by staff in Waterford County Council. The file code at this time was TP/21/, unfortunately, no indication of the significance of 21 in the code has been found. It does not reflect a section of the Act and may simply have been the number of the cabinet in which the files were stored.
WCC/PLN/TP/1-4 are files on the Act and its operation within the County in general.
WCC/PLN/TP/5-867 are the planning applications.
IE/WCA/WCC/GNA Waterford County Council General Administration Collection
IE/WCA/WCC/1 Waterford County Council Minutes Books
Descriptive Control Area
Archivist Note
Joanne Rothwell
Rules/Conventions
IGAD: Irish Guidelines for Archival Description. Dublin: Society of Archivists, Ireland, 2009.
ISAD(G): General International Standard Archival Description. 2nd ed. Ottawa: International Council on Archives, 2000.
National Council on Archives: Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names. Chippenham: National Council on Archives, 1997.
