A ‘Pro-Planning’ system to overcome the major issues in the status quo planning process

Currently for people wishing to build their own home they can: buy a “doer upper”, find a residentially zoned site or apply for a local housing need and buy a half-acre somewhere. It is usually the latter and increasingly planning is being denied to those applying on this basis. I believe a more engaged and active involvement by the County Council throughout the planning process can address this.

Bungalow Bliss, first published in 1971, helped many people to build their own homes and farmers were incentivised to sell half acre plots. This method of home building was so prevalent, versions of this book went on to become best sellers in Ireland[1]. This has resulted in a very high car dependency and low spread of population density which makes serving populations with public transport and other public services more difficult. Along with the additional emissions from this high car use, it places increased pressure on parking in our towns and cities taking over what used to be pedestrian spaces and increases commutes and traffic.

In order to combat this ribbon pattern development along roads, a local housing need restriction has been placed on rural housing. This has been a source of frustration for local people in this current housing crisis, particularly in Gaeltacht communities. The restrictions appear to be made on a case-by-case basis which exposes the County Council to claims on the grounds of discrimination as there appears to be no consistency in how planning decisions are being made. The only new housing being built are luxury homes, often on the coast. These are not affordable to people on median incomes for the region and people of all ages are being forced to leave the Gaeltacht or live with their relatives.

To encourage compact and sustainable development the county council zones land on the periphery of towns. A would-be developer of these lands must infer what the council wants through guideline documents on density, form, layout and provision of services. These lands have generally been in use for agriculture in the past and therefore can be anywhere from 1 to 5 acres in size. At the desired residential densities set out in the housing guidelines (35 to 50 dwellings per hectare, 14 to 25 per acre), these sites can accommodate substantial amounts of housing and are priced as such. For example, 5 acres of residentially zoned land in a town half an hour outside of Galway city is priced at 1.5 million.

What is the outcome of this current system? The pool of buyers for residentially zoned land is restricted to those who have the capital to afford it. Landowners do not generally sell off portions of it as larger sites are perceived to have more value, or they do not want to spend the legal fees and go through the planning process for the subdivision of these sites, or they are simply not bothered and are happy to sit on the land and watch the price increase. Those who can afford it, either investment funds or large developers, have only one thing in mind with that site: profit. (Land speculation and hoarding and the lobbying of government/ councils to try and get land rezoned etc is a topic for another day.)

Generally, two kinds of developments are underway: cookie cutter semi-d housing estates or large developments of apartment blocks. The former allows developers to pump out housing that does not require much in the way of engineering or design. Houses are copied and pasted across the site that completely ignore where the sun is. They do not provide any kind of mixed use and are generally stagnant from the moment they are built. They will never grow or densify as the city or town grows around them, they are impenetrable with large walls around them built with the mind that people never walk anywhere. Houses in Knocknacarra can be right beside each other but be a 10 minute walk away as they were in separate developments with big walls between them. With the large developments of apartment blocks developers try to maximise the amount of units that fit which usually causes tension with locals and applications are dragged through planning appeals. While increased density is a good thing, it should not totally be equated with building height. Paris and Barcelona manage to be some of the densest cities in the world and yet rarely exceed 6 stories in height. Good urban form and planning results in good densities.

How can a ‘pro planning’ system work to change the way we build housing in this country?

Take the landowner of 5 acres outside of a Galway town. They can either go to the market with the whole lot and try to get 1.5 million for it or decide to go through the ‘pro planning’ process. Under this system, I envisage that the council will employ an architect and/or an urban planner ideally local to or familiar with the town to decide on the layout of this future development. The professionals through community outreach and research can do this cognisant of the communities current and future needs, like schools, businesses, childcare, housing, pedestrian space, cycle paths and throughways, parks, bus stops etc. The division of land into different plots and the construction of roads and services is all covered by the council. Sites are then sold with a proportion going to the council to cover the costs of the design and development of the site.

At the lower limit of residential densities, 5 acres equates to 70 units. The per unit price to reach 1.5 million is 21500. The council’s costs must still be added on but it is far below market value. This is especially important these days with the rising cost of building materials. This system is possible. What this means is that currently the only people who have access to affordable sites are those that have huge amounts of capital behind them. I envisage a scaled down version being possible for sites in rural/Gaeltacht Conamara which would enable people to self-build nearby family and keep the Irish language alive. The opportunity to self-build within this approach is particularly important given the current shortages in skilled labour to build houses.

These sites would be considered attractive as they would come already serviced and have outline planning permission already. To encourage good urban form and streamline the planning process of the individual homes, these homes could be built as long as they: come out to meet the street level, are only a preset amount of stories high, adjoin their neighbouring buildings as a terrace, that construction must start within X amount of months etc.

As it will now be the council providing services to each site, this opens up the possibility for district heating to be provided to each house.

Landowners would benefit by selling through this system. This type of housing development, as well as being more affordable, would also enable people to live closer to services. This would not only be attractive to first time buyers, but also to older people looking to downsize and move closer to health and community services as a large rural home can be isolating, especially as people age and find driving difficult.

 I can imagine it would become increasingly popular amongst landowners and self-builders alike, with large volumes of sites hitting the market. It would spark a new wave of self-builders with a new industry to support them. Sites could be reserved by the council for social housing, or bigger blocks could be sold off to housing cooperatives.

South Conamara and Ireland more generally needs to plan and allow for the development of housing for our growing population. It is completely unsustainable to depend on private developers to meet our housing needs.

[1] https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/review/2022/10/18/bungalow-bliss-how-one-mans-book-of-home-designs-became-a-blueprint-for-irish-modernity/