North gets it right on sustainable development
According to the policy, there is now a presumption against development in the countryside. Single dwellings, unless they are to facilitate a retiring farmer or are to facilitate a farmer’s son or daughter who will continue to work on the farm, are prohibited.
Having seen the destruction the proliferation of single dwelling has wrought on the countryside, the Department of Regional Development, supported by the North’s environment minister, took this radical step to protect this priceless commodity, the countryside, for future generations. This is the essence of sustainable development.
I applaud this stance.
Councillors in the Republic have shown themselves to be wholly ineffective in their management of the countryside and have failed to deliver sustainable planning policies, specifically in relation to one-off housing, in their development plans.
The rot, however, comes from the top. The Sustainable Rural Housing guidelines are, as one journalist put it, a death sentence on the green fields of Ireland.
The problems associated with single dwellings in the countryside require radical solutions. We could set up an independent planning service, under the Department of the Environment, where planners can deliver sustainable development plans free from political interference.
Only a radical initiative, such as the one introduced in the North, can save us putting a light on every green hilltop.
Paul Killeen
23 St Josephs Park
The Lough
Cork.
