Is pre-planning the key to helping ease frustrations?

Fail to prepare, prepare to fail is a philosophy that serves people well in most aspects of life. When it comes to submitting an application for planning permission for a one-off rural home, it is probably the best advice on offer.

While frustration with the planning system seems to be a nationwide issue, those who make the decisions at local authority level argue that if applicants are armed with the right information and knowledge of local planning, such exasperations would be significantly reduced.

Liam Hanrahan, director of services for planning with Galway County Council suggests that if enough time and effort is put into the pre-planning stage as the final spec of a house, a lot of issues could be overcome.

In-person and online pre-planning meetings are offered by all local authorities with some also providing web systems that can generate a preliminary report on a site which an applicant can work from.

“Pre-planning meetings are very important and are offered every day to applicants both in person and online,” explains Liam.

“We also have a pre-planning system on our website that allows people to generate a preliminary report on their site that will identify proximity to Special Areas of Conservation, whether or not they are in a flooding zone or close to a national monument.

“This also gives access to local planning decisions so people can gather this information before they approach a planning agent, who may suggest putting in an application without taking this basic information into account. This can waste a lot of money so people are better off on several levels to have as much initial information as possible before they submit an application.”

However, not everyone agrees with this approach, with widespread consternation at the differing opinions offered by planners within the same local authority.

At the recent launch of the Irish Farmers Journal Land Report, Portarlington auctioneer Matt Dunne spoke of his reluctance to offer sites for sale without planning permission.

Matt shared a recent experience of sending clients to their county council for guidance on two, one-acre sites that were deemed at the pre-planning stage and likely to be granted planning.

Several thousand euros later, both applicants were told the sites were in an area of ‘overdevelopment’ so would not be approved for one-off housing. Matt argued that if this was the case it should have been stated at the outset, saving all involved time and money.

Others believe that had they availed of the option of pre-planning, their experience in building a home would not have been as drawn out or as costly.

Michael Curtin is a part-time dairy farmer from Cork, who battled with planners for four years to get planning permission for his home after the local authority tried to get him to relocate his plans to a different part of his farm.

“We started the process in 2017 and it took nearly four years before we were in the house, as the council refused our initial application on the basis of the site, which is on the side of a hill and quite exposed,” he says.

“I’m farming 200 acres with my father and the council wanted us to relocate the house to the site of a derelict property on the farm which had been my grandmother’s home. But at 900 feet above sea level that would have been inaccessible in bad weather so it wasn’t an option.

“Our biggest mistake was not having a pre-planning meeting with the council. We did everything through a local councillor and we also had to change our architect as we were initially told we would only get permission for a bungalow.

“Our location was the biggest hurdle to clear. We have lovely views of the countryside but we’re very exposed, and we were very naïve going in to the process.

“The delays cost us well over €100,000 between the rise in construction costs, engineer reports and the extra rent we had to pay while the house was being built. We ended up with three sets of drawings and I feel our decision to have a middle man acting on our behalf stifled the process.

“If we were to do it again, engagement with the county council would be the first priority and we’d definitely do pre-planning. Engaging the right services is also key from the outset.

“We’ve since put in for planning for farm buildings and sailed through so the difficulties with the house were down to the fact we probably made some poor decisions.”

However, the information received at pre-planning meetings cannot always be relied on, as Naomi Richardson, production editor with the Irish Farmers Journal discovered when she lodged the first of three planning applications back in 2007.

Over three years, she and her husband spent €50,000 trying, unsuccessfully, to secure planning for a home in Slane, Co Meath.

“We were gifted a site by my husband’s uncle back in 2007 and went to an architect to have plans drawn up. My husband’s siblings had also been gifted sites and had already built homes in the area, but our application was refused as it would have been the fifth house so it was deemed ribbon development.

“The area was considered sensitive as it was close to Newgrange, but we had been told in the pre-planning meeting with Meath County Council that we would probably get planning.

“We then went to a different architect as we considered buying my husband’s uncle’s home, but there were a lot of restrictions in terms of maintaining the footprint of the house, which needed to be gutted. It would have ended up costing us a small fortune so it didn’t make sense.

“By 2010 we were on to our third site, where an electricity pylon was located and needed to be removed at a cost of €60,000, which we were prepared to do. But our application for planning was refused on the basis of the site being too damp, despite drainage works we carried out. We spent three years and €50,000 trying to build a home for it to come to nothing.

“We were renting all that time and the stress it caused was just too great so we ended up buying a house in the area, where luckily prices had come down so we were able to afford a home.

“My husband grew up in the area, so he met the residency requirements and I was working locally and our children were in local schools. We had sheep that we kept on my father-in-law’s land so we had a herd number but none of this went in our favour with the planners.”

Advice offered to people who avail of a pre-planning meeting, either online or in-person, for a one-off rural house include the following:

Local knowledge: Reading through the County Development Plan might not be enticing but it is worth putting the time in to gain an undertanding of local policies, zoning requirements and any relevant planning guidelines.

Looking up previous successful planning applications that have been granted in the surrounding area will also provide a very useful precedent in terms of what type of application is likely to be granted.

Proposal prep: Ensure your project is clearly explained with as much detail as possible. Include site plans, preliminary drawings, and anything else in written form that can support your application.

Include any questions you have relating to your project from a planning point of view.

However, be mindful of the fact that no planner will give any firm indiciation at the pre-planning stage regarding the final outcome of your application.

Feedback: Comments made by planning officials during the meeting should be taken into consideration, particularly any tips or insights that may strengthen your application.

Ask what changes would enhance the likelihood of your proposed development approved.

Written summary: The feedback from the meeting can be requested in writing and can provide a very useful reference when the planning application is being finalised.

Incorporating it into your proposal is an indication to the planners that you are open to modifying your application to comply with the local regulations.

Detailed documents: Ensure all documentation supporting the final application is accurate.

Be sure to include everything relevant to your application before it is submitted.

This should include changes made as advised or recommended at the pre-planning meeting.