Government-by-numbers
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http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1375645&issue_id=12328
Bungalow blitz gets green light
Ministers bow to pressure and lift ban on one-off rural houses
THE Government has bowed to pressure and relaxed curbs on one-off houses in the countryside.
The decision yesterday paves the way for a new wave of single stand-alone housing in rural Ireland. Those with links to rural areas will be entitled to get planning permission, even in scenic places.
Special designated areas of conservation, heritage and protection are also to be opened up to houses for the first time.
And restrictions imposed by councils on the design of one-off houses, such as putting a ban on certain brick types or requiring all roofs to be of a particular coloured slate, are also being significantly eased.
All local authorities nationwide are being immediately ordered by Environment Minister Dick Roche to review their development plans and change them to take in the revised rules.
The new Rules on Rural Housing include a presumption in favour of quality one-off housing for rural communities, provided road safety and waste criteria are met.
The radical new planning guidelines were approved by the Cabinet yesterday and outlined to the Fianna Fail parliamentary party by Mr Roche last night.
Among the main provisions are:
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2005/0413/breaking1.htm
New rules for one-off housing to be published
Last updated: 13-04-05, 07:08The Minister for the Environment Dick Roche will today publish new legislation on rural housing which is expected to clear the way for local authorities to apply a customer-response criteria when assessing planning applications.
The new housing guidelines were discussed and approved at the Cabinet meeting yesterday and is reported to allow those with links to the land to be entitled to planning permission.
Under the new rules it is expected that all local authorities will be asked to grant permission for one-off houses and that returning immigrants will be able to apply for one-off housing in their local area.
The rules also expected to develop customer-friendly performance indicators based on the experience of the individual planning offices.
Mr Roche said the performance criteria would be on the ordinary things that people judge the local authority’s performance by such as the length of time required to get a pre-application consultation and the ability to check the status of an application.
© 2005 ireland.com
Extensive coverage on Radio 1 this morning.
Debate on right now with Pat Kenny. Roche will be on shortly.Housing needs of returning emigrants can be met in one-off houses in their home places.
This is illegal under EU law. At which point someone challenges the law saying that they are being discriminated against because of where they were born and everything becomes a free-for-all
@Andrew Duffy wrote:
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2005/0413/breaking1.htm
New rules for one-off housing to be published
Last updated: 13-04-05, 07:08The new housing guidelines were discussed and approved at the Cabinet meeting yesterday and is reported to allow those with links to the land to be entitled to planning permission.
© 2005 ireland.com
This will exclude 90% of the current applicants for suburban type houses in rural areas, SACs HAA’s are still protected by superior legislation in the form of EU regulations whatever guidelines are written at Dublin level.
@http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0413/planning.html wrote:
Provision for emigrants in new housing rules
13 April 2005 10:38
Finalised planning guidelines on one-off housing published by the Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche, have expanded on draft proposals to ensure returning emigrants are facilitated by local authorities.Mr Roche received 105 submissions on draft proposals that were published last year by the former minister, Martin Cullen.
He said that the overall thrust remains unchanged to ensure that what he termed reasonable proposals on suitable sites for people contributing to the rural community are accommodated.
Among the other changes is a new provision allowing people in exceptional health circumstances to build close to a particular environment or family support.
A ban on brick in all cases and a requirement that all roofs be of a particular colour slate have also been lifted.
It is also stated that all one-off housing developments will be allowed in Special Areas of Conservation or SACs as long as what the guidelines calls the integrity of the area is not adversely affected.
Detractors had viewed the draft proposals as a charter for bungalow blitz and said they went against EU and national policy.
The finalised guidelines can be expected to re-ignite the white-hot debate on planning in Ireland – something that in all likelihood will end up in the courts.
What a populist strategy with certain elements although experience would suggest that the numbers benefitting from this reprehensible measure do not have sufficient scale to tilt an election as evidenced by both Local Elections and both By-elections where Fianna Fail were comprehensively beaten.
This was announced a year ago
@RTE wrote:Martin Cullen says that the current overturn rate of 76% should be reduced to around 10%.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2004/0304/planning.html
It’s an utterly meaningless story. They might as well announce that “judges have been ordered to increase the conviction rate in courts to 90%” or “doctors have been ordered to reduce waiting lists”.
The government announces the same plans every few months. What’s the news going to be tomorrow? “Government to have a meeting about making a decision about Dublin airport in the very near future.”
@RTE INTERACTIVE wrote:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0413/planning.html
Rules on housing common sense: Roche
13 April 2005 13:24
The Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche, has said the guidelines on rural housing, published this morning, were balanced and based on common sense.Mr Roche said that dispersed housing development was part and parcel of Irish life and it would be simply wrong to legislate against it.
He said the aim of the guidelines was to eliminate inflexibility in the planning process and to eliminate property speculation.
The finalised planning guidelines have expanded on draft proposals to ensure returning emigrants are facilitated by local authorities.
Mr Roche received 105 submissions on draft proposals that were published last year by the former minister, Martin Cullen.
Among the other changes is a new provision allowing people in exceptional health circumstances to build close to a particular environment or family support.
A ban on brick in all cases and a requirement that all roofs be of a particular colour slate have also been lifted.
It is also stated that all one-off housing developments will be allowed in Special Areas of Conservation or SACs as long as what the guidelines calls the integrity of the area is not adversely affected.
Detractors had viewed the draft proposals as a charter for bungalow blitz and said they went against EU and national policy.
The finalised guidelines can be expected to re-ignite the white-hot debate on planning in Ireland – something that in all likelihood will end up in the courts.
What is the deal here? Cork County Councils excellent design guidelines and Fingals excellent link to the land all thrown out, what part of balance does Dick not understand?
How can Special areas of conservation not suffer a loss of integrity by the insertion of large mock Georgian Haciendas sporting spanish style tiled roofs and plastic windows?
Pure electioneering at its best. 2 years in which to allow a mass of new one off houses, as it will take at least that length to get the challenges through the courts, by which stage, FF will be back in power and can blame the courts/Brussels for the problem.
The concept of Minister for local government makes a lot more sense, the Environment is percieved to be an obstruction to development by this current administration as for heritage that is a dirty word in todays cabinet.
this is so disheartening 😡 , I cant imagine many tourists will want to visit irish beauty spots filled with modern bungalows competing for attention on the hillsides. whilst I have some sympathy with locals,wanting to live close to where they work I am concerned that many exceptions will occur and will add to the blight of our countryside. bnc
@DOE Rural guidelines wrote:
http://www.environ.ie/DOEI/DOEIPol.nsf/wvNavView/Planning?OpenDocument&Lang=#I30
Rural housing development in Special Areas of Conservation and other designated areas
While the guidelines continue to make clear that statutory designation is not intended to operate as an inflexible constraint on rural housing development, it is also now being made clear that planning authorities, before granting approval to development in such an area, must be satisfied that the integrity of the area will not be adversely affected.64 words that mean absolutely nothing. :confused:
@DOE Rural guidelines wrote:
Design Aspects
The guidelines stress the need for a balanced and informed approach by planning authorities in assessing the design aspects of proposals and not to be overly-prescriptive e.g. putting a ban on brick in all cases, or requiring that all roofs be of a particular coloured slate.Not overly prescriptive, i.e. Any thing goes, if you don’t proscribe you can’t assess as there are no criteria on which a judgement can be made. 😡
@DOE Rural guidelines wrote:
http://www.environ.ie/DOEI/DOEIPol.nsf/wvNavView/Planning?OpenDocument&Lang=#I30
Strengthening Rural Villages and Smaller towns
The purpose of some new text on this issue is to mention that, as well as housing needs in rural areas, which is what the guidelines are mainly about, housing also needs to be promoted in smaller towns and rural villages to ensure that they offer attractive and affordable housing options.How do you stregnthen villages by ensuring that the potential customer base is given a cheaper option outside the development boundary? It is a simple choice either you promote higher densities or you allow a planning free for all.
@DOE Rural guidelines wrote:
http://www.environ.ie/DOEI/DOEIPol.nsf/wvNavView/Planning?OpenDocument&Lang=#I30
Holiday and Second Home Development
The section on holiday and second homes has been expanded to make a better distinction between the different types of development in this category, including the growing trend of ‘resort’ type development when old estates are developed as golf courses with associated hotel and residential development, and the need for planning policies to distinguish between these different types of developmentHow can you enforce a local needs policy if people resident outside the state have an equal right to develop houses in un-sustainable locations? It would be impossible to ascertain if people are retiring or simply purchasing/developing a holiday home.
@DOE Rural guidelines wrote:
Exceptional Health Circumstances
This is a new provision which indicates that planning authorities should grant permission in cases where exceptional health circumstances, as certified by a doctor and the relevant disability organization, may require a person to live in a particular environment or close to family support.This is the icing on the cake, why would you want someone with a disability living miles from support services such as doctors, Shops, pubs and churches? Many elderly people have been ‘rescued by neighbours’ after accidents in towns, how does an elderly person raise the alarm if they are a mile from anyone else. To use the disability angle is a disgraceful PR stunt and entirely inappropriate given the statistical economic disadvantage suffered by disabled people for generations. A car dependent environment is the last place that a disabled person would generally wish to be.
@RTE INTERACTIVE wrote:
Plannning Institute warns on housing rules
13 April 2005 22:51
The Irish Plannning Institute has said it has serious concerns about the long-term implications of new guidelines easing restrictions on rural housing.The Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche, said the guidelines were both balanced and sustainable. However, the Institute has expressed worry about both their impact and the resources for their implementation.
Earlier, Mr Roche said that dispersed housing development was part and parcel of Irish life and it would be simply wrong to legislate against it.
He said the aim of the guidelines was to eliminate inflexibility in the planning process and to eliminate property speculation.The finalised planning guidelines have expanded on draft proposals to ensure returning emigrants are facilitated by local authorities.
Mr Roche received 105 submissions on draft proposals that were published last year by the former minister, Martin Cullen.
Among the other changes is a new provision allowing people in exceptional health circumstances to build close to a particular environment or family support.
A ban on brick in all cases and a requirement that all roofs be of a particular colour slate have also been lifted.
It is also stated that all one-off housing developments will be allowed in Special Areas of Conservation or SACs as long as what the guidelines calls the integrity of the area is not adversely affected.
Detractors had viewed the draft proposals as a charter for bungalow blitz and said they went against EU and national policy.
The finalised guidelines can be expected to re-ignite the debate on planning in Ireland – something that in all likelihood will end up in the courts.
A sure what a planner know?
Lads, this what joe soap wants and only the Green party objected and believe me the government can live with that.
Of course its still disgraceful. This was announced before the local elections and it didn’t do FF much good that time.
It’s crazy that beautiful places on the western seaboard are being ruined when tourism is the obvious future for these places.
At least if people are going to build in the countryside then they should be properly designed. But that would be too proscriptive!
An ironic provision if ever you saw one – indeed if one was to follow though on the ‘exceptional’ nature of the circumstance, the new building would be demolished upon the death or moving on of the infirm person from the existing house.
Of course that is a ludicrous suggestion but I think it reflects the nature of the problem we have, the very heart of the issue: the fact that – as Emer O’Siochru pointed out today – this is a quick-fix solution to a short-term economic problem, but the impact of which will affect the appearace of the landscape, the cost of services and utilities, and the country’s environment for centuries to come.
If this type of development had been pursued 50 years ago in Ireland, I think we’d be kicking ourselves for allowing it to happen. Instead of our current state of affairs being taken as an opportunity, the exact opposite is happening – it is being exploited for political gain.
That’s what annoys me so much about this – the idea that because Fianna Fáil are lucky enough that the landscape hasn’t been overly developed in most places, that now’s the opportunity for them to take advantage of this – ‘it hasn’t been wrecked by someone else yet, so now’s our chance’.
Not that I don’t think other parties would have done excactly the same – everyone bar the Greens it seems is in favour of this, or at least would be if in Govt.I’m not so sure that the greens are the only ones opposed to this although Deirdre De Burca & Ciaran Cuffe spoke very clearly against it, Fergus O’Dowd the Fine Gael Environment spokesman was very clearly against it and I think that it could be a very good policy for Fine Gael to take on in their attempts to win back some urban seats in Dublin as another theme on their rip-off Ireland campaign.
I totally agree with your analysis on the longer term implications of this Graham and this will come back to haunt us going forward.
https://archiseek.com/content/showthread.php?p=33091#post33091
Here’s the link to today’s interview with Frank McDonald and Dick Roche.
Emer O’ Siochru is interviewed as the first item on the programme. Scroll to roughly 1 hr 35 mins in for Roche & McDonald.http://www.rte.ie/rams/radio/latest/rte-todaywithpatkenny.smil
Just listening to it, you have to ask the question – what is the point of making procedures more favourable to those with direct links to an area? What is the point?
If there is nothing wrong with one-off housing, why the emphasis on those with links to an area or those with special needs?!
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