Changes will benefit rural regions

NORMALLY, U-turns executed by a government attract a large measure of criticism, but in the case of having second thoughts in relation to the planning laws affecting rural areas, there would appear to be merit in them on a number of fronts.

Contained in the National Spatial Strategy, to be published in October, the Government intends to remove planning laws which currently outlaw the construction of one-off houses in rural areas.

Importantly, it will be implemented in conjunction with a decentralisation programme which will encourage thousands of civil servants to re-locate outside of Dublin.

That in itself is to be welcomed, but the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Eamon

O´ Cuiv, under whose auspices the move is being mooted, will also restore the right to children of rural land owners to return to their roots and establish a home.

The present restrictions under the planning legislation, which essentially prevents a farmer from giving or selling a site on the family farm to a son or daughter, is a major obstacle to the rejuvenation of rural regions.

Under Minister O´ Cuiv's proposals, people with connections in the countryside will be allowed to build their own houses there, which is right and proper. What they will not be able to do is to sell on that property to another party as a holiday home, an in-built deterrent which should prevent any abuse of the new system.

The Spatial Strategy is described by the minister as a blueprint for countrywide development, designed to spread growth more evenly, and as such has been welcomed by the Irish Farmers Association.

According to the latest Census figures, more than half this country's 3.9 million people now live in Leinster. That is obviously a gross imbalance of population distribution, and one which needs to be redressed.

While there are socio-economic reasons why that is so largely employment related it is a trend which has to be arrested. In aligning the new Spatial Strategy to decentralisation of government offices, a nexus is being established which could go some way to achieve the objective of rural regeneration.

Organisations like An Taisce, which are sensitive to matters environmental, may well be reticent about what is proposed in this undoubtedly major reversal of planning policy.

In that regard, Minister O´ Cuiv must be conscious of avoiding averting any impression his blueprint will be interpreted as affording local authorities carte blanche in the matter of allowing planning permissions.

He has previously stated he is not in favour of a planning free for all in rural Ireland and has called for development which is sensitive to the environment.

He is in a position to ensure that what should be a commendable and realistic reappraisal of what is needed to breathe new life into catchments of rural Ireland, is not grasped by opportunist developers.