Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Breathnach for raising this matter, which is an important issue for many people living in rural Ireland. I also thank him for the opportunity to provide an update on the review of the 2005 planning guidelines for sustainable rural housing, issued under section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended. Like Deputy Breathnach, as a former councillor and a Deputy, I have represented people on planning issues, including in regard to one-off house building. I agree with the Deputy that it is important to many parts of our counties and certain rural areas that we allow one-off housing and we continue to do that under certain conditions. The impression is often given that no one-off house building is being permitted but the majority of housing built in the last number of years has been one-off housing, with an average of 6,000 one-off houses per year in rural areas over recent years.

In many of the counties I have been visiting they comprise the majority. What we are trying to do under Rebuilding Ireland is bring back some scale to housing construction. I am thankful that in the past 18 months, since we launched the action plan for housing, there have been many more larger housing developments, with one-off rural houses, which are important also. We need both if we are to deal with the housing supply issue. I acknowledge that for the Deputy this is about the people who want to build in their local area. The Government wants to achieve what he outlined and we allow for it in all of our action plans for housing and rural action plans.

Like all statutory planning guidelines issued under section 28, the rural housing guidelines are intended to be applied on a consistent and uniform basis by all planning authorities. Under the 2005 guidelines, planning authorities are required to frame the rural housing planning policies in their development plans in a balanced and measured way. The aim is to ensure the housing needs of rural communities can be met, while simultaneously taking account of the principle of sustainable development and 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 further aim to ensure sites being developed for housing in all rural areas are suitable with regard to vehicular access and wastewater disposal and also from landscape and design perspectives. In addition, the guidelines outline a number of criteria to be taken into account in local authority development plans for the purpose of assessing whether planning applications for rural housing are intended to meet a rural-generated housing need. These local needs criteria primarily relate to planning applicants having familial or occupational ties to the rural area in question.

In 2007 the European Commission issued an infringement notice against Ireland in regard to the 2005 rural housing guidelines. It was subsequently deferred pending the outcome of a related European Court of Justice case against Belgium, generally known as the Flemish decree case. In that regard, the Flemish decree linked the sale or transfer of property in certain Flemish communes with the condition that there should be a sufficient connection between the prospective property buyer and the relevant commune. This had the practical effect of precluding non-locals from purchasing property in the Flemish communes in question. The European Court of Justice eventually gave its judgment in the case in 2013 and ruled that the Flemish decree constituted an unjustified restriction on fundamental freedoms under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, in particular that it breached Article 43 of the treaty on the freedom of movement of citizens. Further to this judgment, the European Commission re-engaged with my Department on the 2005 rural housing guidelines. Arising from this and further subsequent engagement between my Department and the European Commission, a working group comprising senior representatives from my Department and planning authorities was established in May 2017 to review and, where necessary, recommend changes to the 2005 guidelines with a view to ensuring rural housing policies and objectives contained in county development plans complied with the relevant provisions of the EU treaty. The working group concluded its deliberations in September 2017 and my Department is now consulting the European Commission on the matter, with a view to issuing new guidelines to planning authorities as soon as possible after the finalised national planning framework is adopted and published in the weeks ahead.

When the revisions to the guidelines are finalised and issued to planning authorities under section 28 of the planning Act, planning authorities and, where appropriate, An Bord Pleanála, will be required to apply the revised guidelines in the performance of their statutory planning functions under the planning Act, specifically in the assessment and determination of planning applications and appeals in respect of rural housing proposals. Pending the issuing of the proposed new revised guidelines, planning authorities were advised by way of circular letter issued by my Department in May 2017 that the existing 2005 guidelines remained in place and that they should not amend the rural housing local needs policies in their development plans until the revised guidelines had issued. This has resulted in thousands of people receiving planning permission to build houses in rural areas. It does reflect the need for local ties.

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