The Housing Minister has promised to review planning guidelines in order to give more "flexibility" to people who want to build one off rural homes.
In the last Dáil term, it was the strong preference of the Green Party for one off rural homes to be discouraged, in favour of denser developments.
The party argued denser housing would be quicker to build and make it easier for residents to access public services.
With the Greens no longer in the Government, advocates of one off rural housing hoped they would receive a more sympathetic ear from the Department of Housing.
On The Pat Kenny Show, Housing Minister John Cummins said he believed in flexibility on the issue.
“We also do need to have compact development, transport orientated development,” he explained.
“What we have tried to do, in everything that we have done over the last number of weeks and months, is try and address viability in terms of apartment construction.
“That’s why we’ve introduced the legislation that’s going through the Dáil and the Seanad in terms of extending the duration of planning.
“Because we can talk about building houses and apartments - but unless we have them through the planning system, well we have nothing to talk about.”
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Minister Cummins continued that between 5,000 and 6,000 one off homes are built every year, a figure he described as “consistent” in recent years.
“What I want to do in reviewing the rural planning guidelines is to make sure they are consistent with the Programme to Government,” he said.
“Which is to support one off rural housing; I think that was an important piece that was into the Programme for Government.
“And we have to ensure that we have the flexibility in there.”
Despite this, he said he did not believe planning guidelines should authorise a “free for all”.
“I’m from Waterford City,” he added.
“I don’t believe I should be able to go out and buy a greenfield site and build a house out there.
“But if someone is from a smaller settlement and they have land in the surrounding area, [that’s a different story].”
Review
The Waterford TD added that officials in the Department of Housing are currently drawing up potential changes for his consideration.
“I have to review those [guidelines] with my department officials,” he said.
“There’s been a significant body of work that has been done in bringing forward all of the changes over the last number of weeks and months.
“Next on my agenda in the autumn will be reviewing these rural planning guidelines.”
Main image: A farmhouse in Cork. Picture by: Alamy.com.
