This week’s announcement that new draft planning guidelines for rural and Gaeltacht housing has been launched will come as a relief to many families who wish to build a house and live in rural Ireland.
For too long restrictions on planning for farmers’ sons and daughters and people with a genuine connection to rural Ireland have prohibited them from getting planning permission – in many cases on their own family’s land.
This haphazard approach to rural planning has led to pressure on local schools staying open. If there are no people living in an area, there will be no children to go to school there, and we have seen many smaller rural schools closed in recent years for that very reason.
It’s a similar story with GAA clubs in rural Ireland, with some now struggling for numbers and amalgamating with neighbouring clubs to make up teams.
If we want vibrant rural communities, there must be some form of encouragement for people to live in rural Ireland. Getting planning permission is one of the first steps.
There are always consequences to policy be they good or bad. Those wishing to build a home will be able to demonstrate local need. People must have lived in a rural area for up to seven years of their life and their site must be close to that locality, typically somewhere between 3km and 10km.
The planning process will also be less onerous on people whose job depends on living in a rural area. The proposals brought forward from Minister for Housing James Browne and Minister of State John Cummins have had a broad welcome from farm organisations including the Irish Farmers Association and Macra.
Macra president Josephine O’Neill also made some important points this week that the planning changes should also be accompanied by continued infrastructure investment in rural Ireland, including rural towns and villages.
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