Mayo councillors warn that rural planning laws are forcing young people away from their hometowns
Calls have been made for urgent reform of rural planning laws in Mayo after a councillor highlighted the case of a young couple who have spent more than €25,000 trying, and failing, to secure permission to build a home on family land.
At a recent meeting of the Westport-Belmullet Municipal District, Cllr Paul McNamara said restrictive planning laws were making it "virtually impossible" for young people to build one-off houses in the rural areas where they were born and raised.
He referenced a case in Mulranny, where a young couple has already spent €25,300 on two failed applications and are now questioning whether to go through the process a third time.
"This is a young couple from the area who want to build a house beside the family home on a local road," he said. "Every designation and regulation is stopping them. Yet, as a council, we can go 1.5km up the road and get a Part Eight to build 16 houses coming out onto the N59. It's ridiculous."
Cllr McNamara was referring to the new housing estate on Murrevagh Close in Mulranny, which was officially opened last month and includes 16 new homes.
The couple's first application was refused because the site was within a designated SSE area, and the second because the design was deemed not in keeping with the surrounding area.
Cllr McNamara added that the couple's frustration grew when they rang up the planning office in Castlebar and were told by council staff that the planner did not have to speak to them about their case.
"Before they even put a shovel in the ground, they've spent €25,300," Cllr McNamara pointed out and said that is what the central Government wanted for housing in Ireland.
"They wanted no one-off housing, they wanted it all bought into towns and [they wanted] cluster housing. That is not what works in rural Ireland,
"If young people cannot get planning permission in the areas they are born, bred and reared in - What is it all about? What are we at as a council?" he asked.
His comments drew strong support from other councillors. Cllr Chris Maxwell said it was "the most sensible statement" he had heard on planning in a long time.
"It just shows the seriousness of the issue," he said. "The Green Party is dead and buried, it's time the planning authorities got their act together. Our young people are on their knees. If we don't have a young generation coming up, where are we going?"
Cllr Gerry Coyle suggested that planners should be required to appear before the council each month to explain refusals, a motion seconded by Cllr Brendan Mulroy.
However, Cllr John O'Malley argued that it would depend on who came into the meeting: "Some of the planners will listen, and listen to logic, and others won't."
He cited the case of a woman returning from Australia who was refused permission to build on her father's land in Carrowholy, but after an appeal to An Bord Pleanála, the council's decision was overturned and she was granted permission.
"That just tells you the council got it very wrong," he said.
Cllr O'Malley also criticised the refusal of an application for a young man who was looking to build beside his parents' house on family land.
The application was refused even though planners had requested additional information and changes to lower the house's height, changes that Cllr O'Malley said the applicant carried out before resubmitting the plans.
However, the revised application was again refused, this time on the grounds that the entrance to the house would come out onto a main road.
"Why put the lad through all that trouble and tell him no?" said Cllr O'Malley, who said that the main road in question is the old N5 Castlebar road, which has been downgraded since the new N5 was developed.
"He's coming out onto that road anyway because he lives with his parents, so what is the difference in granting him planning permission?
"We want to know who we're letting in to be planners," he added, "If they're Green sympathisers or aligned with that agenda, they shouldn't be in that job, because they won't give planning permission to anyone in rural areas."
During the discussion, Seamus Ó Mongáin, Head of the Municipal District, said that in September there were only two refusals in the district, compared with 21 applications granted, and 14 requests for further information.
However, several councillors disputed those figures, claiming the refusal figures would be much higher if applications withdrawn at the last minute, before an official decision was made, were included.
Cllr Brendan Mulroy said the statistics did not reflect reality, claiming many people pull their applications "at the last minute" out of fear of refusal.
"I cannot sit here and listen to the stats being given here because those figures are completely wrong. The amount of people who do not go through with planning and pull [applications] out at the last minute is probably higher than the number of people who go for planning permission."
He added that people are "fed up" and "at their wits' end," particularly those returning to rural areas to care for elderly relatives or family members with additional needs.
Cllr Mulroy said he had seen firsthand how planning refusals can impact generations of families and highlighted the impact that a refusal letter can have on people's mental wellbeing.
"It's not just planning permission being refused, it's the whole knock-on effect," he said.
In response to the councillors' disbelief at the refusal figures, Mr Ó Mongáin noted that councillors themselves influence refusals through the County Development Plan (CPD), which guides planning decisions, a suggestion that provoked strong and angry reactions.
"We did not vote to refuse planning permission in rural areas," Cllr McNamara replied, "under no circumstances did I vote for a CDP that would refuse planning permission in any rural or urban area. To use a CDP to refuse planning permission is absolutely ridiculous."
Cllr Coyle added: "I would never vote for a CDP that would do such an act to our people, and if that's what is being used [for refusals]- tear it up."
After an hour-long discussion on rural planning laws, councillors concluded the debate by agreeing to hold a workshop with planning staff to review rural housing policy and find a solution going forward, rather than inviting planners to the next meeting.
This article has been funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.