Current guidelines for planning permission for one-off housing must be amended, according to Mayo Fianna Fáil TD Dara Calleary.
Guidelines should differentiate between national primary and national secondary roads for planning purposes but they currently do not, he said.
“I have been contacted by a lot of people who have had difficulty getting planning permission and I believe that, when the applications are for suitable, permanent one-off homes, there should be more flexibility in the granting of permission on national secondary roads. I raised the issue with Micheal Kitt, Minister of State at the Department of Environment, Heritage, and Local Government, and he indicated to me that the Department is willing to look at amending the guidelines. The relationship between transport and planning policies is to be reviewed under a working group comprising officials from the Department of the Environment, the Department of Transport, and the National Roads Authority,” he explained.
Dep Calleary said that one of the objectives of the working group is to allow the facilitation of reasonable development proposals, while at the same time protecting the State’s investment in national roads.
“Minister Kitt confirmed to me that the new guidelines will be published as a public consultation draft in the next few months and stakeholders will be invited to examine the drafts and give feedback. I will remain in contact with Minister Kitt on this issue and I am hopeful that a solution can be reached that will allow more flexibility for suitable planning permission guidelines,” concluded Dep Calleary.
