Will new Government measures ease the planning burden for those wishing to put down roots in our rural communities?

Last week the Government unveiled its Draft National Planning Statement on Sustainable Rural and Gaeltacht Housing, marking a major overhaul of rural housing policy for the first time in 20 years.

The proposals will set out clear guidelines for building a home in rural Ireland which will apply nationally and lead to a more consistent approach across all local authorities making the planning process clearer and easier to navigate for those wishing to build homes in a rural area.

The inconsistencies between different planning authorities is something that has long since drawn criticism with different policies in place in different counties and the new planning statement aims to address this and level the playing field.

When it comes into effect, it means that local authorities must apply planning and local needs criteria in their own local development plans and also apply them when considering planning applications. They are discouraged from including overly restrictive planning rules in their development plans.

The Department says the policy aims to allow new rural housing for people who genuinely need to live in rural areas, while also preventing the uncontrolled spread of housing from nearby towns and cities into the countryside.

The requirement to demonstrate a local housing need is to be scrapped for areas with a population of less than 1,500, giving an opportunity to people from outside the community to build homes thus helping boost rural population and the rural economy.

In larger areas, the requirement for a local housing need will still apply and the proposal will set out how this criteria can be met with the same criteria to apply across the board rather than being set out by local authorities and varying from area to area.

It sets out how a local housing need can be met by demonstrating either a 'social need' or an 'economic need' and the circumstances in which both apply. Social need means the person has strong local ties and must have lived in the rural area for up to ten years, either all at once over time. The site for the new house should also be in or near that area, generally up to 10km from where they currently live or originally come from.

Economic need applies to people whose main job depends on living in a rural area and they need to live close to their workplace. It includes jobs like farming, equine, forestry, and essential services like teachers or people starting or running a local business. Remote working will not count.

Under the policy, different rural areas can be treated differently depending on how much pressure they are under from development.

For example, stricter social needs criteria will apply in areas under most development pressure from nearby cities.

In city metropolitan areas, a person must have lived within 3km of the site for up to ten years. This is to stop rural areas turning into commuter suburbs. In high amenity areas, a person must have lived within 5km of the site for up to ten years to prevent too many holiday homes being built.

More relaxed social need criteria apply in other rural areas where a person must live within 10km of the site and must have lived in the area for at least seven years.

In Gaeltacht areas, the person must live within 3km of the site and must have lived there for ten years. This can be relaxed to five years for people who speak Irish and can show a local need.

A grant of planning permission will include a condition that the house is used as a permanent main home for at least ten years and cannot be used for short-term rentals during that time.

Local authorities are requested not to include overly restrictive housing rules in their development plans such as how many houses can be built in an area, minimum road frontage requirements or minimum site sizes for rural areas. There will also be no limit on how many houses can be built on a farm.

The draft planning statement has been approved by cabinet and must now go for environmental assessment and will come back before Government for final approval which is expected to be before the end of the year.

Until then the Sustainable Rural Housing Guidelines that have been in place since 2005 remain in place.

Meath East TD and Minister Thomas Byrne welcomed the publication of the proposals saying it is “extremely positive news for rural communities throughout County Meath”.

“For too long, many people who were reared in our rural villages and wanted to build a home on a nearby rural site were restricted by planning rules that treated them as urban applicants.

“Under the new proposals, villages with populations of less than 1,500 people will no longer be subject to local needs criteria for new single houses. This represents a major change in policy and opens up new opportunities for families, first-time builders and those wishing to put down roots in our rural communities.”

Minister Byrne said the changes would help strengthen villages across Meath.

“This policy recognises that thriving communities need people. More residents mean stronger schools, more customers for local businesses, greater participation in community organisations and more sustainable rural communities.”

Minister Byrne added that the proposals strike an appropriate balance between supporting rural development and ensuring sustainable planning.

“The draft policy recognises that rural villages are central to the future development of counties like Meath. By encouraging people to live within existing settlements and supporting their growth, we can strengthen communities while making the best use of local infrastructure and services”.

Meath West TD Aisling Dempsey said the draft national planning statement is an important step in creating a planning system that works better for people and the reforms would make a real differences for families across Meath and rural Ireland.

“Building a home in rural Ireland should be one of life's biggest milestones, but for too many families it has become unnecessarily challenging. Outdated planning rules and uncertainty have turned what should be an exciting step into a stressful and expensive process.

“If we want to keep rural Ireland strong, we need to make sure more people can make it their home. That means addressing the unnecessary challenges people face when building in the communities where they grew up, where they work and where they want to raise a family. These proposals are about giving people that opportunity while continuing to protect the character of our countryside.”

Meanwhile, IPAV, the Institute of Professional Auctioneers & Valuers, welcomed the initiative saying that if it is swiftly implemented, along with the plan for modular homes and other infrastructure and planning changes underway, it will make a sizeable contribution to achieving housing targets. IPAV also welcomed that it would bring clarity to the myriad of different rules applied by different local authorities throughout the country.

“Together, once implemented, these initiatives would see Ireland break free from the stasis and piecemeal change that has prevailed and stymied progress on home building.

“Our planning laws have, for too long, enabled individual rights to trump the common good and where animal rights have often superseded human rights,” Genevieve McGuirk, IPAV’s Chief Executive said.

The Irish Farmers Association described the launch as a positive step for rural Ireland. IFA President Francie Gorman said excessive planning restrictions that prevent access to housing have become one of the main barriers facing young people and families who want to live, work, and be part of a community in rural Ireland.

“We have pursued this issue for some time as it’s something that our members in every part of the country bring up. For too long, rigid and inconsistent planning guidelines have prevented people with genuine local and family connections from building houses and making homes in their own communities. The launch of today’s policy should go some way towards addressing this problem.”