Rural Housing Control Zones in Cork

Chrisoc

Hey,

i'm just wondering has anyone had any luck getting planning in a Rural housing control zone in Co. Cork, specifically in the Ovens, Farran Area???

All stories or problems greatly appriecated!

ECO_Mental

I suppose the first question is are you from the area and are you an active member of the community? If you can answer yes to this then you have a head start if not then it will be a serious struggle.

All you can do after that is make sure every thing is done correctly. I applied two years ago and did a half assed job and just threw it in and got turned down. The second time I made sure I did everything they wanted.

I think at every site there is going to be a particular planning problem that you cant solve, your job is to make sure that the rest of your application is spot on and they dont have a problem with it.

Get an Architect on board who understands Rural Design Guide(read this yourself firstly) and designs your house with this in mind (very important), get Photoshop pictures done with your house inserted from various angles and locations, erect ridge poles, go to pre-planning meetings, make sure the site suitability is done by an approved person, get a site survey done with any near houses picked up and their ridge heights, make sure your sight lines are correct, are there any other drinking water bore holes near your site that you might affect, is there ribbon development in that area, have you access to other sites(eg on family landholding), do you have any other properties(need to fill out SF1 form stating this), is the site prominent on a crest of hill, near or visible from a scenic route, etc etc etc etc....... If your Arch is any good he should highlight these when you first meet him

All these questions and more have to be addressed and answered satisfactorily and presented to the planner. What you are doing is ticking off all the things a planner looks for when it comes across their desk. Then when it comes to the one thing you cant answer, (say there is ribbon development) you are in a better position to reason with the planner and say look I've bent over backwards to make sure everything else is spot on and come on and give us a break.... They wont put their neck on the line for some half assed application but they might if your application looks the business and you mean business and are not chancing your arm.

It took me over two years but I got through.


Good Luck

Chrisoc

Thanks ECO,

Im currently living in a green belt, but only 1/2 a mile from the Rural control zone and about 5 miles from the site. I would have family living in a neighbouring property and the planners wont give me a straight forward answer to this without lodging a formal application. Do you no if this makes any difference?

Also i have the plans of the property already so would you reckon a technican would be able to handle the application??

Thanks a million

ECO_Mental

If its A1 A2 or A3 ideally they would like you to have been born and raised in the area, having a brother or sister who bought a house next door wouldn't count I would imagine but I am no expert. You need to talk some who does this professionally a good Architect or planning consultant.

If your are serious about this then you need to get serious. Who done your house design is it an off the shelf design and plonked into the middle of the site the planners will spot this straight away. The house has to be designed for the site and location, the planners will appreciate this.

Again this is a very complicated procedure and I hear your pain about pre-planning it can be frustrating not getting answers out of the planner, but get some one on board who will give you a straight answer.

em

Chrisoc

Thanks Eco,

Its gonna be a fun few months ahead I'm reckoning :rolleyes:

confused....

Hi Chrisoc

We managed it despite not being from the area at all, got a bit lucky in that the planners had mistakenly given out planning earlier on the same site for a monstrosity of a house and our architect argued with the planners that it was better we built a new sympathetic house rather than the original despite not being from the area.

Our architect seems to have good contacts in the planning office, he has a good reputation for advising potential clients if they are wasting their time or not, ie we had rang his on 3 different potential sites and on the first two he told us not to even bother,
He doesnt charge for that so might be no harm to give him a buzz, pm me if you want his details.

miseannmarie

I know you posted this ages ago but finding myself in the same position have a site really want to build but just don't know will we get planning. Would you be able to pm the contact details of your architect please?

confused.... wrote: »

Hi Chrisoc

We managed it despite not being from the area at all, got a bit lucky in that the planners had mistakenly given out planning earlier on the same site for a monstrosity of a house and our architect argued with the planners that it was better we built a new sympathetic house rather than the original despite not being from the area.

Our architect seems to have good contacts in the planning office, he has a good reputation for advising potential clients if they are wasting their time or not, ie we had rang his on 3 different potential sites and on the first two he told us not to even bother,
He doesnt charge for that so might be no harm to give him a buzz, pm me if you want his details.