Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Seanad for the opportunity to discuss the recently published sustainable rural housing guidelines. Unlike many other parts of Europe where most people live in cities and towns, in Ireland about one third of our people live in the countryside. In some parts of the country, the proportion of people living in the countryside is much higher, especially in parts of the midlands and the west. We have a dispersed pattern of settlement going back thousands of years.

If there is one message behind the planning guidelines on sustainable rural housing it is that planning for the provision of rural housing must recognise the strong and continuing tradition of people living in rural areas and must promote and support vibrant rural communities. This Government is unique in that it has a Cabinet Minister dealing with rural communities but I accept that this concern about rural communities is shared across the political spectrum.

Reasonable proposals on suitable sites for persons who are part of, and contribute to, the rural community should be accommodated. The guidelines represent a presumption in favour of quality one-off housing for rural communities, provided proposals meet normal standards on matters such as the proper disposal of waste water and road safety. The guidelines are a material consideration both regarding development plans and in the consideration of planning applications. Planning authorities are required to review and vary their development plans, where necessary, to ensure their policies on rural settlement are consistent with the policies set out in the guidelines. Both planning authorities and An Bord Pleanála are required by law to take the guidelines into account in making decisions on individual planning applications.

In addition to facilitating people who are part of the rural community in their dealings with the planning system, the main objectives of the guidelines are to accommodate demand arising for housing in structurally weak areas which suffer from population decline subject to normal planning requirements on waste water and traffic. In rural areas under strong development pressures from nearby large urban areas the guidelines call for urban generated development to be directed towards areas zoned for new residential development but make it clear that the housing requirements of those who are part of the rural community in these areas should still be facilitated. In rural areas where relatively few towns and villages exist the guidelines indicate that the key objective is to maintain a vibrant rural population while respecting and consolidating the traditional forms and patterns of housing development in these areas, for example, the tradition of clustering housing that exists in some parts of the country. In stronger rural areas the guidelines call for development plan policies which build on the strengths of these areas by striking a balance between accommodating proposals for individual houses and stimulating new housing development in smaller towns and villages to ensure a balanced range of options for new housing development.

Since the guidelines were published I have been surprised at comments to the effect that they will facilitate extensive housing development in areas with statutory protection such as special areas of conservation, special protection areas and natural heritage areas. The mainly urban based critics who make such claims have either not read the guidelines or have not read them with sufficient care. The reality is that the guidelines do not in any way affect the relevant statutory provisions for the protection of sensitive areas. The guidelines point out that planning authorities are required to ensure that all planning applications for rural housing that involve sites in or that might affect an SAC, SPA, NHA, nature reserve, national park, refuge for fauna or flora or other area of wildlife importance are referred to the National Parks and Wildlife Service for comment. This is currently the situation. The guidelines also point out that careful siting and location are central to development that is sensitive to the landscape and call for planning authorities in assessing proposals to have regard to the extent to which they complement the landscape, avoid visual intrusion and help to maintain local landscape character. In other words, I am seeking balance in this matter. The guidelines call on planning authorities to have full regard to any biodiversity considerations in assessing proposals, including impacts on sites of biodiversity importance and potential cumulative impacts on biodiversity of large numbers of developments in the wider countryside.

The guidelines state that the statutory designation of certain rural areas is not intended in any way to operate as an inflexible obstacle to appropriate housing development. It is possible to deal with sensitive areas and rural needs through sensitive planning. That areas are designated for special consideration is not to be understood as the sterilisation of and removal of population from those areas. The most important ingredient in rural development is population. The guidelines add that in considering development proposals, including the attachment of planning conditions in such areas, planning authorities should only consider approving proposals they are satisfied will not adversely affect the integrity of the designated area.

Several Senators raised the concerns that exist in this House and among local authority representatives on the excessive use of sterilisation. These guidelines specifically caution that sterilisation only be used in exceptional circumstances. The guidelines state that any planning proposal should be the subject of a preliminary examination of its potential effect on the designated area followed by a more detailed assessment of its implications if it is clear on the basis of the preliminary examination that the proposed development could have a significant effect on the area. All aspects of the proposal which could in themselves or in combination with other proposals affect the area's conservation objectives should be identified. It is clear from a close reading of the guidelines that the allegations from usually urban based critics that this a charter for tarring over the country are nonsensical.

On the question of how rural housing should be approached in development plans, the guidelines indicate that in their development plans planning authorities should aim to support the development needed to sustain rural communities, guide development to the right locations and tailor planning policies that respond to the different circumstances in different areas. One size fits all solutions seldom work.