if you want to build a property a bungalow or a house in rural ireland you're going to have to
deal with the difficulty of obtaining planning permission and
one of the things that you probably come across is this idea of the local needs criteria
most local authorities have in fact probably all local authorities have a local needs policy
and that is if you can demonstrate that you have a particular connection to the area
then you may qualify under the local leads
requirements or criteria to build a one-off house in the country but it's difficult it's
not straightforward i'm based here in mead and i deal with people i'm in enfield so i'm on the
border between me and killer so i deal with people buying property in me than killed air all the time
and indeed people getting sites or buying sites with the view to building a house on them
the question of local needs and the question of obtaining plan information is vitally important
so to give you some heads up in relation to the local needs criteria for example in mead
and you may have to check this for your own local authority but in meade we are looking at
the county council will support proposals for individual develop dwellings on suitable sites
in rural areas where the applicant can demonstrate a genuine need for dwelling on the basis that the
applicant is significantly involved in agriculture that may not apply to you where the applicant can
clearly demonstrate that their significant employment is in the bloodstock and equine
industry forestry agri-tourism or horticulture sectors and they can demonstrate a need to live
in a rural area in the immediate vicinity of their employment to carry out their employment
where the applicant has spent substantial periods of their lives living in rural areas as members
of the established rural community for a period in excess of five years and who do not possess
a dwelling or who have not possessed a dwelling in the past in which they have recited or who
possess a dwelling in which they do not currently reside this knows the need local needs situation
an applicant who is originally from rural areas and who are in substandard or unacceptable
housing scenarios and who have a continuing close family ties with rural communities
such as being a mother father brother sister son daughter son-in-law or daughter-in-law of
a long-established member of the rural community being a person resident rurally for at least 10
years where the applicant is a returning elegant who have lived for substantial periods of their
lives in rural areas then moves abroad and now wish to return to reside near other family members
to work locally to care for older members of their family or to retire and an applicant whose
employment is rurally based such as teachers in rural primary schools or whose work predominantly
takes place within the rural area in which they are seeking to build their first home or suited to
rural locations such as farmhands or tradespeople and who have a housing need the planning authority
meet county council kildare county council recognize that exceptional health circumstances
may require a person to live in a particular environment or close to family support so in these
cases in these exceptional situations you may get planning commission for a house in a rural area
but you are looking at the criteria being imposed by the local authority
the local needs criteria and you're looking at probably certainly in media anyway you're looking
at an application form and if i take a look at the application form there for me county council
in respect of a local needs application form and uh before you apply for plan information
me county council have a local need form it's to be completed for all rural rural
housing planning applications it'll look for the name the address of the person the location
it'll look for details of the place of residence of the person over the past five years and it'll
look for a breakdown it'll ask you how long you're living in the present house the name and
address of the landlord the relationship to the landlord if relevant submit documentary evidence
supporting your links with the area and then the following section needs to be completed by both
the applicant and the spouse or intended spouse so you'll be selling out your occupation the spouse's
name the spouse's occupation the actual place of work the distance of work from the present house
do you own the property if so yes or no give details the reason for the selling the existing
property state if and when you last lived in the general area where the site is located
what links have you your spouse intended spouse partner co-applicant to the local area where
the site is located the name and address of the that's the exact town land of the immediate family
that live in the area where the site is located have you engaged in pre-planning discussions
with planning officials in relation to the application you are strongly encouraged to
engage in pre-planning discussions with applying officials in me county council
and i presume it's probably the same in kildare and i would imagine kildare have similar criteria
excuse me similar criteria to me and probably the other local authorities have as well so you'll see
there that the local needs criteria for a building a house a rural house in mead or kildare or
probably any other local authority in the country it's possible but it's not easy and you will have
to genuinely fulfill the local needs criteria each council will probably have a different
slightly different tweak on the local needs but the likes of me or kildare
you can very easily google local needs meet county council or local needs kill
their county council or whatever your relevant county council is for you
and have a look at what the criteria are you will need to be able to fulfill them if not then
you're going to be in great difficulty in terms of obtaining plan information
for a rural dwelling certain persons take the view that this is unfair or it's ridiculous or
you know they have a connection with the area but the bottom line is the planning officials are
obviously intent on ensuring that there is some sort of wholesale willy-nilly ribbon
development up and down the country despoiling rural ireland essentially i don't know what
your particular view is on that i have a view but i'm not going to bother sharing it here because
it doesn't really make any difference the law of the law the planning laws of the planning laws and
local needs criteria are going to have to be applied for and it's a good idea very good
idea to have a pre-planning meeting with the local authority if you're going to make an application
because you will get a good steer in relation to what will be a possible runner and what won't
be uh what would be a complete non-honor the other thing i'd recommend that you do is you
speak to a local architect or surveyor who is regularly submitting planning applications to
the local authority because quite frankly if you are submitting applications regularly repeatedly
over a number of years you will have a fair idea a very good feel for what will work and what will be
accepted and with what simply will not be accepted so it's a good idea to engage the services of a
local architect or surveyor or person who submits plans and have a chat with them first they'll
give you a good stare and then you could have a pre-planning meeting with the local authority
that'll give you the best chance that you have but you will be looking at local needs criteria
and you will be looking at quite stringent questions in relation to establishing local
needs where you've lived in in the past whether you've owned property and so on hope you find
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