Rural Tipperary home gets green light despite neighbour’s objections
Planning permission for a house in rural Tipperary has been upheld by An Coimisiún Pleanála, following a dispute between the applicant and a nearby resident.
Michael O’Brien had applied to Tipperary County Council for planning permission to build a house on land gifted to him by his father at Rossoulty, Upperchurch, which was granted by the local authority.
However, Mr O’Brien’s proposed neighbour, Ben O’Brien submitted a third-party appeal to the grant of planning permission to An Coimisiún Pleanála, stating that the applicant should not be allowed to build his home on this site, questioning his eligibility under the council’s rural housing need policies.
The appellant lives across the road from the proposed new house and stated that “once the applicant reached 18 years of age he moved out of the area.
"If the housing needs policy and requirements can be satisfied by a child residing in the area for a continuous period of 10 years then effectively there is no rural housing need policy because every child that grew up in their local area and finished secondary school, is eligible for a rural house.”
Under Tipperary County Council's rural housing policy, applicants typically must demonstrate a strong local connection or “rural-generated housing need”.
The appellant also raised concerns about the height of the proposed new-build.
In response, the applicant, Michael O’Brien rejected the appellant’s claims and questioned his own connection to the area.
"He is from a different parish, Hollyford, which is 20 minutes form his home. To say that he has a less right to build a house on the road than the applicant is ridiculous,” the planning files said.
The applicant said that he and his family welcomed the appellant into the area when they built their house some years ago, and they did not lodge any objections to his planning application.
The applicant criticised the neighbour’s own large home, describing it as “enormous” and contrasting it with his proposed build.
"The third-party appellant has failed to mention his own dwelling house which is appropriately named ‘The Height’ which is 3-4 times bigger than the proposed development. His house is enormous and does not blend into the landscape.”
Mr O’Brien was granted permission to build his home on the site, despite his neighbour’s objections, subject to eight conditions.
Among the conditions are that the applicant or his family live in the home for at least seven years after the house is built, that the site be landscaped with only indigenous deciduous trees and hedging species, and that any surface water run-off from the site be disposed of within the site.