Local Needs in Greater Dublin Area

stdidit

Hi,

My other half and I would like to buy a site and build a house outside of Dublin City i.e. in Kildare, Wicklow, Meath or Dublin County - somewhere within 45mins drive of Dublin City center.

Both of us are from the west of Ireland and have been renting and working in dublin city for 4/5 years.

My initial research seems to indicate that its basically impossible for us build a house here because of local needs.. My questions, am I right, are we wasting our time or are there areas that we can buy a site and build in?
If we are wasting our time, is buying a house the only option? Is it possible to buy a site that has planning permission and use that? Would a partially completed house be an option?

I'm a complete novice in this area so appreciate any help!

sydthebeat

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=101032069&postcount=8

stdidit

sydthebeat wrote: »

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=101032069&postcount=8

I'm aware of what local needs are and why they are in place... I'm looking for alternatives that let me build the house I want.

Is there some central repository of these "structurally weak" areas or is is a matter of talking to the local county councils?

sydthebeat

stdidit wrote: »

I'm aware of what local needs are and why they are in place... I'm looking for alternatives that let me build the house I want.

Is there some central repository of these "structurally weak" areas or is is a matter of talking to the local county councils?

the first part of my post was in the context of the thread that its taken from, so it doesnt really have anything to do with your situation.

in regard to your question above, no there is no central registery of "structurally weak" areas... so you will need to research each countys development plan to identify if and where these areas are within each county.

then you need to go searching for a site (to be purchased subject to permission)
then you should organise a pre-planning meeting to discuss possible planning issues

a lot of "structurally weak" are designate so because they are areas of the county which may be poor land, mountainous, boggy etc and thus are suffering population decline.
also, they would be parts of these area designated as "special areas of conservation" etc in which planning would be very restricted.

so as you can see there are many issues to do your homework on.

also, building in the countryside and commuting to dublin center is exactly the kind of development they are trying to prevent... for very obvious reasons.

what might be more applicable to your situation would be the repair and upgrade of an existing vernacular build (cottage etc)... in these situations local needs generally doesnt apply (however if you plan to demolish and replace the cottage, local needs generally applies)

stdidit

Thanks Syd, that's the kind of info I was after. Plenty of homework to do but at least I know what I'm looking for now.