Lukewarm welcome in Kerry for government’s new, much-vaunted rural planning guidelines

By Alastair Tibbs, The Kerryman

Kerry councillors have urged the government to go further with new draft planning guidelines in an effort to alleviate the housing shortage and rural depopulation in the county.

They highlighted areas of planning law they said the draft report hadn’t dealt with, and said it would leave many in rural Kerry no better off.

Last month the government published its new daft planning guidelines for rural and Gaeltacht areas which are set to replace the Sustainable Rural Housing Guidelines passed in 2005.

It is hoped the new framework will provide more standardised criteria for rural housing development across the country, as well as removing restrictive local policies that are curtailing construction.

While the draft plans were dubbed by many as a major advancement in rural planning, their reception in Kerry County Council chambers was more sober.

Several key rural planning difficulties were identified as missing by councillors who felt the plans still left something to be desired.

Councillor Johnny Healy-Rae said there had been ‘a lot of fanfare’ but felt that no-one was ‘any the wiser’ following the publication.

“Who will be entitled that isn’t today?” he asked.

He raised the issue of obtaining permission alongside national secondary roads, which he said is something that particularly affects south Kerry and properties on the N70 Ring of Kerry.

Transport Infrastructure Ireland has frequently objected to applications where there are entrances/exits directly onto national secondary roads, citing safety concerns.

“There are more national secondary roads in Kerry than in any other county apart from Cork,” said Cllr Healy-Rae.

“There’s a lot of talk about South Kerry and with the greenway coming...all that is brilliant…but where will people living there go?”

“The national park will take over it…because there won’t be people living there, and it is easy to lose.”

Councillor Tommy Griffin highlighted that there was no change to rules requiring people to have a connection to an area to build a house.

In Kerry’s rural areas, applicants must typically demonstrate either an agricultural/occupational need, an indigenous rural housing need or social/health reasons in some cases.

He said this rule was making developments in certain areas not viable due it narrowing further already limited local markets.

“If we want to battle against rural decline, we need to leave new people move into rural areas and small settlements…it’s clear from the new guidelines that there’s no provision to change this requirement,” said Cllr Griffin.

On the other hand, Councillor Jackie Healy-Rae felt he was happy with the ‘long-awaited’ plans but was concerned about their implementation.

He pointed to the revised wind energy guidelines which have remained in draft form since 2019.

“There was a big rush to get them published before the summer recess of the Dáil and now that that has come, the brakes are on now,” he said.

“My worry is that it could be six to 12 months plus, before we see them realised on the ground here”.

“We now have young people and families who are hanging their hat on this…we have people in this county that can look after their own housing need but what they need is permission from this local authority.”