Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 September 2020
410. Deputy Francis Noel Duffy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the policy restrictions on planning for one-off, eco-friendly housing in rural areas by non-locals; the reason for the restrictions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21451/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraUnder the Guidelines for Planning Authorities on Sustainable Rural Housing 2005, planning authorities are required to frame the planning policies in their development plans in a balanced and measured way that ensures the housing needs of rural communities are met, while avoiding excessive urban-generated housing and haphazard development, particularly in those areas near cities and towns that are under pressure from urban generated development.
The Guidelines identify four rural area types in respect of which planning authorities may formulate policies for ‘urban generated’ and ‘rural generated’ rural housing. Section 3.2.3 of the Guidelines suggests that in areas “under major urban influence”, planning authorities may define “rural generated” housing need for “Persons who are an intrinsic part of the rural community” and for “Persons working full-time or part-time in rural areas”.
The National Planning Framework (the NPF) provides an important strategic basis for interpreting the 2005 Guidelines. National Policy Objective (NPO) 15 of the NPF fully supports the concept of the sustainable development of rural areas by encouraging growth and arresting decline in areas that have experienced low population growth or decline in recent decades, while simultaneously indicating the need to manage certain areas around cities and towns that are under strong urban influence and under pressure from uncoordinated and ribbon-type development, in order to avoid over-development of those areas.
National Policy Objective 15 is supplemented by National Policy Objective 19, which aims to ensure that a policy distinction is made between areas experiencing significant overspill development pressure from urban areas, particularly within the commuter catchment of cities, towns and centres of employment, and other remoter and weaker rural areas where population levels may be low and or declining. NPF Policy NPO19 is intended to tie in with the generally established Guidelines approach whereby considerations of social (intrinsic part of the community) or economic (persons working full or part time) need may be applied by planning authorities in rural areas under urban influence.
The 2005 Sustainable Rural Housing Guidelines are framed in the context of the National Spatial Strategy (NSS) 2002. Given the many changes in policy and in wider society since 2002/5, the superseding of the NSS by the National Planning Framework (NPF) in 2018, together with other factors, the Sustainable Rural Housing Guidelines now require updating, in a broader rural development and settlement context. While these documents do not make specific reference to ‘eco-friendly’ housing, current building regulations separately require that all new houses, irrespective of whether they are rural or otherwise, must meet much higher construction and energy standards than heretofore.
My Department intends to bring forward updated and comprehensive Guidelines that will fully reflect NPF objectives and will bring clarity to the issue of rural housing. In the interim, the NPF objectives together with the 2005 Guidelines, enable planning authorities to continue to draft and adopt county development plan policies for one-off housing in rural areas.
