The Local Government Reform Act 2014 provides a stronger role for local government in community development. One of the key provisions of the Act is the formulation by every local authority of a Local Economic and Community Plan. The LECP is a six-year plan containing the measures necessary to promote and support community and economic development in County Wicklow. The Community element of the plan seeks to ensure that the plan can be implemented in a collaborative manner with relevant existing and future community framework documents, to harness maximum synergy across the community planning framework for the County. The LECP is required to complement the County Development Plan which sets the spatial planning framework for the County. The LECP must be consistent with the broad spatial planning, settlement and land use policies of the development plan.

The County Development Plan plays the following roles in delivering the goals of the LECP:

• Facilitating the delivery of community infrastructure;
• Facilitating improved physical access to community infrastructure and services;
• Facilitating the maintenance, restoration and upgrading of cultural and natural heritage of communities, environmental upgrading and general actions to enhance the environmental, amenity and physical attributes of communities.

The current plan includes a list of social and community facilities that are considered necessary in settlements, according to their population range.

The provision of social infrastructure in the form of buildings, facilities, clubs and the means of accessing and using services, is necessary for the development of sustainable communities. A wide variety of facilities are required including:

• Education – Primary, Secondary, Third Level, Training Centres;
• Care Facilities – health care services, nursing homes, childcare, special needs care;
• Leisure and recreation – community / youth centres, indoor halls, dancing studios, playgrounds, playing pitches and courts;
• Cultural – arts centres, theatres, libraries, burial grounds and places of worship.

The County’s population aged 65 and over is increasing (accounting for 11% in 2011 and 13% in 2016). The Government’s recent publication ‘Housing Options for Our Ageing Population’ recognises the need to plan for an ageing population particularly in terms of housing and health care.