Planners let towns ‘wither on the vine’, says An Taisce

Rural towns and villages are being allowed to “wither on the vine”, with An Taisce claiming an overhaul of planning and building policies are needed to preserve country life.

In a report issued ahead of work on the successor to the Government’s National Spatial Strategy 2002-2020, the heritage group said planning policies had “completely failed to curb the piecemeal suburbanisation of the Irish countryside”.

This was contributing towards outward migration and a “thin spread of population [that] has led to the slow economic and demographic demise of large parts of rural Ireland”, it said.

An Taisce issued what it said were five key principles that should underpin any overhaul of the strategy, starting with the aim that a strong network of towns and villages is essential, as “only nucleated, walkable communities can support opportunities for innovation, new enterprise, and a diverse range of job-rich local shops, pubs, and businesses”.

The second principle is that “scattered commuter-driven rural housing is not a sustainable, efficient, or viable strategy for rural regeneration”, with a call instead for “nucleated settlements through a plan-led approach” and strict regulation of one-off houses.

The policy outlines how only households with a clearly verifiable ‘rural need’ should be permitted to build outside of serviced settlements.

The proposals also recommend the introduction of a national ‘serviced sites initiative’ in which land in serviced settlements, such as small towns and villages, could be purchased either directly by local authorities or via private initiatives, with individual plots then sold at a reasonable cost to people who want to build their own dwelling.

An Taisce also said there needed to be a focus on rural areas as a “precious resource for a post-carbon world”, contributing sustainable local food production, and generating efficient energy.

The fifth principle in the proposal is to manage the economic, social, and environmental legacy of scattered housing in terms of water supply, energy, and transport, among other areas.

An Taisce spokesman Charles Stanley-Smith accepted that, under the current system, many members of farming families can struggle to secure planning permission for houses. “The whole rural planning [system] needs to be looked at,” he said.

However, he said focusing on rural towns and villages would cut social isolation and ease the impact of a lack of rural transport networks, which he said were “very difficult” to introduce because of the dispersed nature of much rural settlement.

An Taisce claimed that the five principles were not radical and were instead “all supported by numerous national planning policy documents” which had been ignored or selectively applied.

It also said that, unless steps were taken to address the current issues, “rural decline is likely to continue unchecked”.

A spokesperson for the Department of the Environment said work was already under way in relation to a successor to the current National Spatial Strategy.