The controversial rule banning "outsiders" from building in certain parts of Co Clare has resulted in higher site prices and forced couples planning to move to the west of Ireland to seek homes elsewhere. Last December, the council adopted the 1999 County Development Plan which contains the policy of generally prohibiting non-locals from building a house in areas zoned under high and medium development pressure and visually vulnerable areas.
These areas include the entire Clare coastline, and a large swathe of land between Ennis, Shannon and the east Clare town of Killaloe. A local person is defined in the plan as any person born in the area or with immediate relatives there or any person who has resided in the area and/or whose parents have been resident there for a minimum of 10 years.
Making the case for drawing a distinction between locals and non-locals, the county manager, Willie Moloney, told councillors that the limited availability of sites and the increasing demand, particularly from non-locals, has led to a substantial increase in the price of sites for local people who wish to remain in their own areas.
However, the latest available figures released by Clare County Council reveal that the vast majority of applicants who have been refused planning under the new system have been "local" people seeking to sell sites on to potential purchasers.
The figures for the first three months of this year show that of the 39 applicants who have been refused planning under the rule, 28 were people planning to sell land for development. In the same period, planning refusals in the county have more than quadrupled to 18 per cent compared with the same period in 1999.
Also, applicants who have made efforts to get around the contentious "non-local" provision have also been unsuccessful. According to a council spokesman, a number of applicants had falsely claimed on planning application forms that they would be occupying the house when in fact the intention was to sell it when completed.
In other cases, people planning to buy houses have run into difficulties when lending institutions and solicitors have pointed out under a residency clause in the planning permission, only the person who secured planning permission can live in the house. Steve Symes of Green Valley Properties says the new policy is distorting the property market in the county.
Lisdoonvarna auctioneer John Casey says: "Definitely, the new planning laws are having an impact on prices. Sites are now scarce because if they are bought without planning permission, it will prove very difficult for the purchaser to obtain planning." The new policy, he says, has pushed up the price of existing houses due to planning permission being so difficult to attain.
Ennis auctioneer Paddy Vaughan says they have a lot of problems selling sites because of the council's new planning laws. According to Martin Connellan of Leyden Auctioneers in Lahinch, the new laws have driven the prices of sites with planning permission "sky high".
He says sites with outline planning permission that six months ago sold for £30,000 to £35,000 were now making over £40,000. Mr Symes says the new policy will be of no benefit to local landowners who will find it very difficult to sell sites.
Because of unease about the new planning regulations, councillors who adopted the plan are now calling for a review. They claim that the "non-local" rule is being implemented too rigidly.
