PLAN TO CURB RURAL HOUSING ‘AXED’
THE GOVERNMENT has rowed back on its plans to place even more planning restrictions on people looking to build in rural Wicklow. TD Pat Casey, speaking exclusively to the Wicklow People, said that he had secured a commitment that people in Wicklow will be able to build in their own local communities.
DEPUTY Pat Casey said he has received a commitment from the Government over a clause included in the draft National Planning Framework (NPF) which would have made planning for one-off housing in rural areas even more restrictive.
The Fianna Fail spokesperson on Urban Renewal and housing highlighted how the proposed changes would prevent many people in rural Ireland from building homes in their own communities.
One of the national objectives contained within the NPF draft stated that someone looking for single housing in the countryside would have to prove a ‘demonstrable economic need’ to live in a rural area in order to get planning permission.
‘People living in rural communities in Wicklow know only too well how hard it is to secure planning permission to build a home,’ said Deputy Casey.
‘For years as a Councillor I worked for countless families in helping them to live in rural areas that they are from. As Vice-Chairman of the Dail Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government, I continually raised the issue of how difficult it has become for people from rural Ireland to remain living in rural Ireland due to the severe restrictions on planning.
‘Wicklow is one of the hardest counties in Ireland to get planning permission for one-off rural housing. Other counties aren’t as strict. This policy objective would have seen national policy enforced on a county who behaved itself.’
The restrictions on planning in the draft NPF document would also have clashed with 13 out of the 16 qualification criteria for rural housing contained within the Wicklow County Development Plan 2016-2022, including letting someone build in a rural area if they are a resident of the area for ten years or if they are a son, daughter, niece or nephew of a permanent native of the area.
‘I was shocked and angry that the changes the Government were attempting to force through would have spelled the end for community life in rural Ireland
as we know it,’ said Deputy Casey.
‘Currently, a person from a rural community can apply for planning to build a home under a social clause which includes them wanting to live close to their own family members. The government wanted to bring an end to this by insisting that applicants had specific economic needs to live in a rural area in order for permission to be granted.
‘This would have been a disaster for rural Ireland. I was the first TD to highlight this in the Dail and called on the Government to back down on its plan. The proposed changes would have meant that someone working in a town or city, but who wanted to live in a rural area with their family, would have been unable to do so as they could not identify an economic need to live in the area.’
While discussing the situation with senior officials in the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Casey said he raised a recent Judgement of the Court of Justice of the European Union in a case brought against a Flemish Government decree which stated that the construction of social housing should include a percentage clause for local need only. This was rejected by the court on the basis of freedom of movement.
Deputy Casey said: ‘I have discussed the matter with senior department officials and I am pleased to confirm that they have taken on board my concerns and will leave the social clause in place for the new NPF. This is a major U-turn from the Government, which I welcome. It means that community life can be sustained in rural areas in the years ahead.
‘This is something I will be monitoring in the weeks ahead to ensure Minister Murphy sticks to his commitment. I will continue to place the legitimate needs of rural Wicklow front centre and I want to thank the Department officials for engaging with me on this crucial issue,’ he said.