Vol. 533 No. 4
147 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if planning permission is required for a mobile Swedish Wooden House in a garden adjacent to a house in an urban setting; if he will outline the exemption limits from planning permission requirement for house extensions; and if they apply to both single storey and two storey extensions. [9306/01]
Mobile Swedish Wooden Houses are not specifically exempted from planning permission under the Local Government Planning and Development Regulations, 1994-2000. However, Class 18 of Part I of the Second Schedule to the Local Government (Planning and Development) Regulations, 1994 (S.I. No. 86 of 1994) exempts the keeping or storing of a caravan within the curtilage of a house provided no more than one caravan is so kept or stored and that the caravan is not used for storage, display, advertisement or sale of goods or for the purpose of any business and that no caravan is kept or stored for more than nine months in any year or occupied as a dwelling while so kept or stored.
If any question arises as to what, in a particular case, is or is not development or is or is not exempted development, the question can be referred to An Bord Pleanála for decision under section 5 of the 1963 Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963.
The Local Government (Planning and Development) Regulations 2000, (S.I. No. 181 of 2000) increased the size of domestic extensions that are exempt from the requirement to obtain planning permission from 23 square metres to 40 square metres, subject to compliance with certain conditions and limitations. The regulations specify different limits for different circumstances e.g. whether or not the house had been previously extended and whether it is detached, semi-detached or terraced. In addition, the regulations contain a number of conditions designed to ensure that the changes in relation to exempted development extensions do not result in any injury to the amenities of adjoining properties. The regulations apply to both single storey and two storey extensions.
