Reports this week on on proposed adjustments to current planning exemptions brought to Cabinet by Minister for Housing James Browne have focused on the idea of making it easier for families to make alterations to their proerties in order to facilitate accommodation for older relatives. The proposal follows earlier musings by Minister of State John Cummins about the merits of permitting modular living spaces to be installed in gardens for this purpose. The details that emerged this week added the spectre of older family members being dispatched to the attic to that of them being banished to the bottom of the garden.
In truth, the idea is a good one if executed well, offering greater flexibility for families to make appropriate changes to their properties at different life stages. Increased longevity and smaller family sizes mean the standard three or four-bed 20th century suburban home may no longer be appropriate for some 21st century lifestyles.
If the new exemptions were to lead to a moderate increase in population density in mature suburbs, that would be no bad thing, although some research from Australia suggests measures of this sort can drive up house prices even further, deepening the emerging generational divide between property owners and those who can never afford to buy. All of this should be taken into account in the public consultation which is due to take place over the summer.
Whatever the outcome of that process, the regulations need updating. Much has changed since they were last amended. In particular, the State has been eager to encourage lifestyle changes that protect the environment and mitigate climate change. Many of these have implications for domestic residences. Current restrictions on insulation or structures to house bikes and bins should be adjusted accordingly.
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A further benefit would be to remove some of the pressure on the over-burdened planning system. In fact, dispensing with excessive or archaic regulations wherever they occur should be an absolute priority across the system as a whole.
