New legislation having 'unintended consequences' for one-off rural homes - Davitt

Recently enacted planning reforms are having "significant unintended consequences for those building one-off rural homes", Senator Aidan Davitt says.

New planning legislation allows for planning permission for five years with no renewal option. This was introduced in an effort to stimulate the building of homes in housing estates on zoned residential developments land which had granted planning permissions.

Senator Davitt has said this is having unintended consequences for those building one-off rural homes.

“The intention of the recently introduced catch-all legislation was to force developers to build on sites with active planning permission.

However, the unintended consequence was for guys who had one-off houses,” said Senator Davitt.

“They were building their own private home. They have seen the cost of building go exponentially through the roof and have had difficulty trying to get labour and building supplies. One-off housing is a serious issue in rural Ireland and there has to be a bit of leeway regarding one-off housing. I would implore the minister to examine this issue and put in place a provision for extending permission for those building one-off rural houses,” concluded Senator Davitt.