Mayo people face 'uphill battle' to get planning permission in rural areas

People applying for planning permission in rural Mayo face an uphill battle even before an application is made according to local councillors who called for lightening of restrictions.

The issue of rural housing was raised by a number of councillors at the monthly meeting of Mayo County Council where it was claimed that anyone building a house has to spend a minimum of €15,000 before a block is laid.

Achill-based councillor Paul McNamara told the meeting that there is very little commonsense applied by planners when dealing with an application in a rural area and called for planning regulations to be lightened.

“The reality of it is most of the applications going in in rural areas are facing an uphill battle before they are submitted at all because of the different things which have to be met. Unless commonsense starts to prevail within planning authorities we will have no rural houses in rural areas. 

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“The department can send down every directive they want to rezone land but the reality is if that is the way we want to go on, we are as well to close down the rural areas and bring everyone into urban towns and forget about it.

“What they want to do isn't going to solve the problems unless they lighten up on the guidelines when an application is submitted from a rural area,” he said.

Erris-based councillor Gerry Coyle raised the cost involved in preparing a planning application and stated that a couple in his area spent €15,916 before starting work on the house. He said this included €3,520 contribution levy to Mayo County Council for 'going through the agro of trying to get planning'.

Ballina-based councillor Annie May Reape expressed frustration that an American couple who wished to retire and build on family land outside the town were refused planning. She said that this made no sense and questioned why it was difficult for people to build their own homes.

“These are the stories we are hearing all the time. It is a sad reality and we have to make it easier for people to build houses,” she said.

Pre-planning meetings

Director of Services, Catherine McConnell told the meeting that while the number of planning applications were rising, people were not attending pre-planning meetings with council planners before submitting their application.

She encouraged people to attend pre-planning meetings but Cllr McNamara said from his experience he would do the opposite.

“To me the pre-planning meetings do not work. People are totally discouraged when they go in on a pre-planning meeting when they have to meet all the current regulations. There is no way I would tell anyone to go into a pre-planning meeting because of the list of stuff they will have to do. You are going to come out scratching your head saying you are never going to get planning permission here,” he commented.

Ms McConnell said that planning in Mayo is ‘complex’ due to the number of environmental designations and areas of scenic landscape but added that planning agents should be able to advise their clients on what they might face.

Ballinrobe-based councillor Michael Burkea agreed with Ms McConnell on the importance of pre-planning meetings and that agents needed to advise their clients better.