Young local families in Maree and Oranmore are being denied planning permission on their own family lands, despite meeting the Galway County Council’s ‘housing need’ criteria.
This is the view of Fine Gael Oranmore candidate Michael Eames who said this is causing much “unnecessary hardship”.
He said this is the result of “inconsistency among planners” on the Galway County Council. He said a “consistency of advice” must be achieved at the pre-planning stage to provide a “clearer roadmap for applicants”.
“The right to be facilitated to build one's own home on family lands is a right that must be safeguarded,” he said.
Mr Eames cited the case of one man in his late twenties who is now on his third planning application and has spent more than €8,000 in agents’ and planning fees with “still no sign of a grant of planning”.
“The problem he has encountered is that the goalposts keep changing,” said Mr Eames. “What the first planner advised the second one found fault with. For example, by the time he had taken on board the advice of the first planner and submitted his application a new planner had been appointed to the area. There must be consistency among planners. A new way forward must be found by Galway Council to ensure this.”
