Width for two-way access

irishbuzz

TL:DR: How wide would a laneway need to be granted permission for use as access to a new housing development?

My property borders with a farm to the back and a narrow lane to the side that provides access to said farm. The lane is the only access point and is at it's narrowest at the road.

I'm looking to replace the boundary hedge that currently separates the properties with a wall. While speaking with the farmer about the works he has suggested perhaps when building the wall I could give him back some space where his entrance meets the road and in exchange, he would give me some additional space towards the back corner of the property.

This actually would mostly suit me as this corner is quite tight on my house after a recent extension and I would not lose any front garden space from what I currently have as going from an 8ft thick hedge to a wall will still increase my space slightly.

My only concern is that by providing this increased access could potentially at some time in years to come allow some future land owner to turn the farm into a housing development with the lane becoming a local access laneway.

I want to avoid this possibility ever arising but I would like to appease his needs for farming use. Would anyone be able to tell me what width would be needed here for this to even be feasible?

JimmyMW

irishbuzz wrote: »

TL:DR: How wide would a laneway need to be granted permission for use as access to a new housing development?

My property borders with a farm to the back and a narrow lane to the side that provides access to said farm. The lane is the only access point and is at it's narrowest at the road.

I'm looking to replace the boundary hedge that currently separates the properties with a wall. While speaking with the farmer about the works he has suggested perhaps when building the wall I could give him back some space where his entrance meets the road and in exchange, he would give me some additional space towards the back corner of the property.

This actually would mostly suit me as this corner is quite tight on my house after a recent extension and I would not lose any front garden space from what I currently have as going from an 8ft thick hedge to a wall will still increase my space slightly.

My only concern is that by providing this increased access could potentially at some time in years to come allow some future land owner to turn the farm into a housing development with the lane becoming a local access laneway.

I want to avoid this possibility ever arising but I would like to appease his needs for farming use. Would anyone be able to tell me what width would be needed here for this to even be feasible?

Is this land bounding a development boundary, ie town or village or is this a rural location? if rural and significant distance from a development boundary it is extremely unlikely he will get planning permission for even a single house (backland development) not to mind an estate irrespective of the lane width.

irishbuzz

The house is located in a small town/large village. Quite a big chunk of the farm was zoned for development 50 years ago but the farmer sold most of the road frontage sites and left himself this narrow strip for access. Technically there's quite a bit of land behind my house that is still zoned for development.

I'm 133 while the farm is 8868 and the additional area behind it

JimmyMW

irishbuzz wrote: »

The house is located in a small town/large village. Quite a big chunk of the farm was zoned for development 50 years ago but the farmer sold most of the road frontage sites and left himself this narrow strip for access. Technically there's quite a bit of land behind my house that is still zoned for development.

I'm 133 while the farm is 8868 and the additional area behind it

Thats quite a possibility alright, have a look at the below doc around page 80, that should give you a good of what is required

http://corkcocoplans.ie/wp-content/uploads/bsk-pdf-manager/2016/07/Residential-Estates-Design-Guide-May-2011.pdf

irishbuzz

Thanks for the replies and the helpful link.

We're currently looking at increasing his available space from 4.7m to 5.8m so if those limits were in place then it would really depend on how a planning authority might categorise the road/lane.