Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 6 July 2023
14. Deputy Seán Canney asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when he expects to publish the review of the guidelines in relation to the construction of rural houses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33201/23]
View answer29. Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he is undertaking any review of rural planning guidelines; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33191/23]
View answerWill the Minister of State update the House on the guidelines on rural housing, which are being reviewed? Perhaps we can discuss the review and find out exactly what is happening.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 14 and 29 together.
I thank Deputies Canney and Christopher O'Sullivan for bringing up this important matter. Updated rural planning guidelines are being prepared to expand on the high-level spatial planning policy of the national planning framework, NPF, in particular national policy objective, NPO, 19.
The objective makes a clear distinction between rural areas under urban influence, which are areas within the commuter catchment of cities, towns and centres of employment, and structurally weaker rural areas where population levels may be low or declining. NPO 19 is also aligned with the established approach whereby considerations of social or economic need are to be applied by planning authorities in rural areas under urban influence. The guidelines will continue to allow development plans to provide for housing in the countryside based on NPO 19, and will also highlight the need to manage development in the areas around cities and larger towns and environmentally sensitive areas.
Due care is being taken to ensure the updated guidelines will not operate to conflict with fundamental EU freedoms, comply with EU environmental legislative requirements and have due regard to decisions of the European Court of Justice. The draft guidelines, which will address these complex environmental and legal issues, while also providing a framework for the sustainable management of housing in rural areas, are currently subject to legal review and ministerial approval and will then be published for a period of public consultation.
I thank the Minister of State. I live in a rural constituency and I see how difficult it is for young people to get planning permission in the areas where they want to build homes. People are being refused planning permission. They cannot build on their own farms because they are not the person farming the land. If we are to have sustainable communities in rural Ireland, we need to make sure people can build in rural areas. We have to support our national schools and sporting clubs.
Earlier, we had questions on sewage treatment plants in villages which are non-existent. We have some of the most peculiar rules. A young man living in my village applied for planning permission but because the house would have been 50 m outside the speed limit demarcation, he could not get it. However somebody coming from 7 km or 8 km away can get planning permission. The practical way to do this is to dispense with all the terminology and try to ensure that we allow people to build houses in a sustainable way to keep rural Ireland sustainable.
The reason I brought up this matter is twofold. Similar to Deputy Canney, I am aware of the difficulty young people have in getting planning, the hoops they have to jump through and the back and forth involved in trying to get planning. Sometimes they are not successful. There is another aspect of this on which we had a debate recently in the Dáil. We even had a vote on it. I genuinely believe there is a place for Dutch cabins, log cabins and that type of dwelling in rural Ireland. I can understand in some sense the pushback against log cabins, in that we do not want them proliferating all over the countryside, but there have to be cases where their use is suitable.
It used to be that people won the jackpot if they were given an acre from a family landholding as a site to build on. They could build a house on it for €150,000. They were sorted. A three- or four-bedroom house now costs €500,000 to build. The cost is becoming prohibitive. These Dutch cabins and log cabins last a long time. They are comfortable, cosy and well-insulated. I really do think there is a place for them and I urge the Department to give serious consideration to developing a policy on them.
I appreciate the sentiments of Deputies Canney and O'Sullivan, on which I will make several points. It is a firm priority for the Government that people can continue to live in rural areas where they were reared. Deputy Canney asked that people be allowed to build and live in rural areas. We want this. Croí Cónaithe is a nationwide scheme. We want people to restore old houses in rural areas. There is now a grant for additional funding for consultancy fees with regard to protected structures such as farmhouses and older buildings. We want to get the rural planning guidelines correct.
Deputy O'Sullivan made points on log cabins. The national planning framework provides guidance. In many cases, there are differences in how local authorities interpret the NPF. Development plans are a reserve function of councillors. We are giving these rural planning guidelines detailed consideration. We are very much working on the basis that we want people to be able to continue to live in rural Ireland. This is an underlying principle for us. We want to ensure that we do this in a sustainable way that complies with all EU legal requirements. We want to get this right.
The assurance I want to give both Deputies is that our abiding underlying principle is that we want to ensure we have a measure in lace that allows people to continue to live in rural Ireland. We are not looking to do anything else. In terms of planning for log cabins, we undertook to examine this issue to see how we can ensure that, once again, we are moving with modern times on planning.
I welcome that the Minister of State has said he wants people to live in rural Ireland. Let us make it happen. It is important, when we think about it, that various local authorities take various views on planning. Within each local authority, different planners take varying views as well. This is the inconsistency that is there. These guidelines need to be consistent. I come from a construction background. I do not think planners should be deciding on whether people have an overhang at the eaves of a house. This is what they get tied up with. I am aware of someone who wants to build a passive house. This means the house has to have a good overhang to allow for shading to keep it cool in the summer. It probably will not be acceptable from a design point of view. In today's world, the most important things needed for a house are a good foundation and wastewater treatment plant that can work in the ground in which it is set. This is all the planners should look at. They are dictating too much.
Can we have a timeline for when we will see the guidelines for rural housing? We know about the issue. When somebody comes with a planning issue the worst element is that there is no consistency either in the local authority, among local authorities or from planner to planner. We are speaking about landowners who cannot understand why they cannot get planning permission on their land for a child. We are speaking about people who have grown up in these rural areas.
I accept that, from a services point of view, we want to build towns, urban areas and cities as economic drivers but people from rural areas have to be able to live in them. Otherwise, these areas will die. There is an element of unfairness. We need consistency and we need to get these guidelines as soon as possible, while accepting that we do not necessarily have a great history of planning in this State.
To respond to Deputy Canney, we want to address the inconsistencies, apart from the underlying principle that we want people to continue to be able to live in rural areas. The guidelines will be key to this. In the planning legislation we are bringing forward we are looking at ministerial statements. There is an inconsistency in the way local authorities interpret. We want to make stronger the directions from Government on planning.
As regards timing, we are finalising the rural planning guidelines. It is very important we get the legal context correct. The legal review is under way. Once it is concluded, we will go to public consultation. We are looking to do this very much in a way that ensures we cover all legal aspects of it.
