Ministerial guidelines
Sustainable Rural Housing: Guidelines for Planning Authorities
One-off houses in the countryside: rural area types, local housing need, and siting and design.
Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government · April 2005 · 66 pages
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- 35 Planning Guidelines Roads served by Unmanned Railway Crossings In Ireland, there are a large number of unmanned “accommodation” type railway crossings originally provided to provide access to agricultural lands that would otherwise have been severed by the development of the rail network. Under the National Development Plan, a rail investment and safety programme has yielded substantial route renewal and service upgrades that will deliver more frequent and faster rail passenger services over the rail network. In some areas, laneways accessed through unprotected accommodation crossings are coming under pressure for development of additional housing. In certain circumstances, the provision of substantial additional development that is completely dependent for access using unmanned and unprotected level crossings, on existing lines or lines that are closed but not abandoned, may increase the risk of a safety incident unacceptably or to the degree that alternative crossing arrangements are necessary. The provision of such arrangements needs to be carefully considered given the likely costs involved and the availability of resources. Therefore in instances where planning authorities receive proposals for new housing development requiring access via unmanned and unprotected level crossings, they should: • Refer the application involved to Iarnrod Eireann, • Carefully consider the views of Iarnrod Eireann, and • Be satisfied that due and proper consideration has been made for the safety of road users and rail safety. 4.5 Protecting Water Quality The quality of Ireland’s water resources is a key national asset. The planning system has a major role to play in ensuring the maintenance and improvement of water quality through the location of development.
- 36lanning Guidelines Wastewater from housing development in un-serviced areas is normally disposed of underground. Wastewater treatment facilities in rural areas should therefore be located, constructed and maintained to the highest standards to ensure minimal impacts on water quality and particularly groundwater quality. The key to protecting water quality in the context of providing new dwellings in un-sewered rural areas is to ensure that new development is guided towards sites where acceptable wastewater treatment and disposal facilities can be provided, avoiding sites where it is inherently difficult to provide and maintain such facilities, for example sites prone to extremely high water tables and flooding or where groundwater is particularly vulnerable to contamination. Circular Letter SP 5-03 issued to Planning Authorities in 2003 gave guidance on best practice in relation to development plan policies and development control and enforcement standards and practices to ensure protection of groundwater quality. In summary, critical elements of the approach include: • The need for a “Groundwater Protection Scheme” to provide the information background to the policies of the development plan in setting out the planning authority’s approach to various categories of development in areas of varying groundwater vulnerabilit, • The need to design proposed on-site wastewater treatment facilities, which take account of the circumstances of the site and of the vulnerability of groundwater resources, • The importance of proper supervised installation and commissioning of wastewater treatment facilities by competent persons, and • The need to monitor whether those who carry out approved development have met their obligations to comply with the terms of the planning permissions which was granted, including a regular programme of testing and monitoring the performance of individual wastewater treatment and disposal systems.
- 37 Planning Guidelines Planning authorities should aim to ensure that their development plans as well as development control and enforcement practices reflect the best practice set out in more detail in the circular letter. For both new and existing housing, adhering to the highest standards in terms of both the installation and maintenance of wastewater treatment facilities is essential to the protection of water quality. More generally in relation to flooding, care also needs to be taken in relation to selecting sites at locations where known flood risks are low and avoiding sites where flooding is known to be a significant risk, in coastal, river, lakeside and karst type areas. 4.6 Natural and Cultural Heritage Ireland’s heritage embraces a wide variety of elements that range from natural habitats, such as wildlife habitats, to elements such as archaeological remains and protected structures. The Heritage Act 1995 (Section 6) describes the national heritage as including: • Monuments • Archaeological objects • Heritage objects • Architectural Heritage • Flora • Fauna • Wildlife Habitats • Landscapes • Seascapes • Wrecks • Geology • Heritage Gardens and Parks • Inland Waterways
- 38lanning Guidelines Looking at the above elements, there are four broad categories of heritage most relevant to rural housing: • Important Landscapes (and also seascapes and geology), • Biodiversity (which contains wildlife habitats, flora and fauna), • Archaeological (which contains National Monuments, areas of archaeological potential, recorded sites and features of importance and major sites of archaeological importance in State ownership or guardianship and wrecks), and • Built heritage (which contains architectural heritage such as protected structures, industrial archaeology, inland waterways and heritage parks and gardens). Appendix 2 outlines additional information on how the conservation of the above aspects of the natural and cultural heritage can be addressed in considering development proposals. Addressing heritage conservation in housing proposals The best results in dealing with heritage considerations in the context of individual housing proposals in rural areas are achieved where prospective applicants and planning authorities work together to identify whether a particular site may impinge upon particular aspects of heritage, with a view to agreeing on any measures that may be needed to avoid or minimise any potential adverse impacts on that heritage. For applicants, this means that at the stage where a potential site is being considered, making enquiries with the local planning authority to ascertain if the site is in an area containing aspects of heritage and if so, discussing means to mitigate any adverse impacts in terms of site location and layout. For planning authorities, this means facilitating pre-planning application consultation on as broad a basis as is practicable and in a way that draws upon the expertise of relevant heritage authorities such as the built and natural heritage sections of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. It is also vitally important that the development plan contains
- 39 Planning Guidelines easily accessible information, in the written statement and maps, giving appropriate details or reference tothose aspects of heritage whose conservation the planning authority is seeking. Ideally this should be supplemented by information checklists and pamphlets made widely available through public offices such as local libraries. Furthermore, to ensure that any implications for heritage are identified and addressed at the earliest stage, planning authorities must: (1) Ensure that proposals are examined by relevant officers as early as possible following the receipt of the planning application; and (2) Notify, in normal circumstances within five working days, certain prescribed authorities in cases where rural housing proposals might have a negative effect on an aspect of heritage or where it might obstruct any view or prospect of special amenity or special value. 4.7 Occupancy Conditions The NSS indicates that to secure the co-ordinated and sustainable development of the country’s main cities and towns, provision of new housing in the rural areas adjacent to them that are under considerable pressure for development should generally be confined to persons with roots in or links to those areas. To enable planning authorities to take a positive approach to applications from such persons in the areas referred to, in circumstances where permission might otherwise be refused, it is reasonable to expect that where an applicant is given planning permission for a rural housing proposal on the basis of having such links, that the grant of planning permission makes it clear that, save for exceptional circumstances, the dwelling shall be occupied for a specified period by the applicant, members of the applicant’s immediate family or by any other person who has similar links.
- 40lanning Guidelines Section 39 (2) of the Act, enables a planning authority and An Bord Pleanala to attach a condition to a grant of planning permission for a structure which is to be used as a dwelling, specifying that such use may be restricted to use by persons of a particular class or description and that provision to that effect shall be embodied in an agreement under Section 47 of the Act. Appendix 1 contains an indicative wording for an occupancy condition that reflects the above considerations. As a mechanism to ensure that permitted development is provided in line with the provisions of the development plan and in accordance with proper planning and sustainable development principles, occupancy conditions are only appropriate in particular situations such as in the rural areas adjacent to main cities and larger towns, which are under considerable pressure for development and in certain situations as referred to in paragraph 3.2.2 where there is considerable pressure for holiday or second home development. Section 47 of the Act, provides that a planning authority may enter into an agreement with any person for the purposes of restricting or regulating the development and use of land permanently or for a specified period. Certain agreements under this section, known more commonly as ‘sterilisation’ agreements, have been used on occasion by planning authorities to regulate development in rural areas. In areas where very significant levels of rural housing development have taken place on the edges of cities and towns and where such areas may be tending to become overdeveloped, such agreements have provided a useful tool in enabling planning authorities to support rural generated development on the one hand while avoiding over development of an area on the other. However, the inflexible nature of such agreements limits their usefulness except in highly exceptional circumstances. Beyond such circumstances, the planning authority should avoid the use of such agreements and should focus instead on deciding the
- 41 Planning Guidelines merits of the individual proposal in terms of the proper planning and sustainable development of the area. 4.8 Design Planning authorities have a key role to play in ensuring that new housing development in rural areas integrates well with its physical surroundings. Key actions to support such a role will include: • Setting and encouraging high standards in relation to the choice of sites and siting and design of housing within sites, • Outlining advisory guidance in the form of either the planning authority’s own design guidelines7 or such guidelines as the planning authority may wish to refer to, • Circulating such advisory guidance as widely as possible such as through the architectural and design professionals active in the planning authority’s area, over the web, at the planning offices public counter and through libraries or other public points of contact, • Establishing ad-hoc in house assessment teams drawn from amongst planning officials and any architectural advice that may be available to the planning authority to examine proposals in particularly sensitive areas and ensure that they are of the highest standards in relation to site location and architectural quality, and • Considering the establishment and promotion, in association with relevant design professions, of an awards scheme for development proposals that have achieved particularly high standards including the possible promotion of such examples in public information exercises generally in raising standards. In assessing the design aspects of specific rural housing proposals, planning authorities should make well balanced and informed judgements on the merits of each proposal, taking on board the degree to which a site is sensitive in visual and other terms, the character of surrounding development and the wider area and 7 The Cork Rural Design Guide published in December 2003 by the Planning Department and Architects’ Department, Cork County Council is an excellent example of guidelines of this type.
- 42lanning Guidelines the need to encourage innovation in design and construction techniques, while avoiding an overly prescriptive approach, such as an outright ban on particular materials e.g. brick, across all proposals in a given area in relation to the designs and finishes chosen. 4.9 Conclusion The policies and proposals in these guidelines are based upon and advance the framework outlined in the NSS. The guidelines present reasonable, workable and sustainable development plan policies that are responsive to the dispersed settlement patterns and tradition of living in rural areas in Ireland, as well as the objectives of carefully planning for the growth and development of larger towns and cities, while also encouraging high quality and well located rural development. It is vitally important that these guidelines are implemented quickly and fairly to ensure that planning policies recognise the importance to rural people of family ties and ties to a local area such as a parish, townland or the catchment of local schools and sporting clubs and deliver positive benefits for rural areas and sustain rural communities by allowing people to build in their local areas on suitable sites. These guidelines also present best practice mechanisms that planning authorities must now adopt in providing information and assistance to applicants in identifying suitable sites where they will be able to obtain planning permission.
- 43 Planning Guidelines Appendix 1: Indicative Occupancy Conditions (a) The proposed dwelling when completed shall be first occupied as the place of residence of the applicant, members of the applicant’s immediate family or their heirs and shall remain so occupied for a period of seven years thereafter, unless consent is granted by the planning authority for its occupation by other persons who belong to the same category of housing need as the applicant. (b) Before development commences, the applicant shall enter into an Agreement with the planning authority, pursuant to Section 47 of the 2000 Planning and Development Act providing for the terms of this occupancy requirement. (c) Within two months of the occupation of the proposed dwelling, the applicant shall submit to the planning authority, a written statement of the confirmation of the first occupation of the dwelling in accordance with paragraph (a) and the date of such occupation. (d) This condition shall not affect the sale of the dwelling by a mortgagee in possession or by any person deriving title from such a sale.8 8 To facilitate the sale of property by lending institutions in circumstances relating to a loan foreclosure.
- 44lanning Guidelines Appendix 2: Supplementary Information on Heritage Referral of Planning Applications The Planning Regulations require that planning applications that may affect the natural or built heritage be referred to certain prescribed bodies including the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Planning authorities must ensure that all planning applications for rural housing that involve sites located in or that might affect an SAC, SPA, NHA, Nature Reserve, National Park, refuge for fauna or flora or other areas of wildlife importance are referred to the relevant regional office of the National Parks and Wildlife Service for comment. Likewise it is vital that any development proposal with potential impact on a known or suspected archaeological site or the setting of such a site or on the built heritage be notified to the Development Applications Unit of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Planning authorities should ensure that procedures are in place so that all referrals occur within five working days of the receipt of the individual planning application. Planning authorities must have regard to any submissions or observations made in response to such referrals. They must also have regard to the objectives in their development plan for the protection of the natural and built heritage (including archaeology). When a proposed new Development Applications Tracking System in the Department becomes fully operational, it is intended that all planning applications with heritage implications will be referred to the Development Applications Unit in the first instance where they will be scanned and referred electronically to the relevant sections of the Department. Revised instructions on referral of planning applications will be issued to planning authorities as these new arrangements are brought into force. Important Landscapes Careful siting and location are central to sensitive development in the landscape. The capacity of a particular landscape to absorb
Source Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government: Sustainable Rural Housing: Guidelines for Planning Authorities (April 2005) · Licence the publisher's termsText read from the publisher’s PDF; tables, maps and drawings do not survive as text, and page numbers are the PDF’s (its first page is 1). Check the original before relying on a passage.