Space wars

Are you exasperated having to circle the neighbourhood every evening searching for a free parking spot? Have you started eyeing up that patch of car-sized green or gravel to the front of your house with great intentions? Well, you might have to think again as city planners are increasingly turning down applications for off-street parking.

In certain areas of Dublin, parking is a daily nightmare for residents. Both in busy suburbs close to the city centre - like Ballsbridge, Donnybrook and Ranelagh - and in suburbs further out that ring the city- residents, especially those living close to DART stations, are battling with commuters and shoppers for precious street spaces. On-street parking is limited and householders don't have a right to park outside their homes.

New Quality Bus Corridors have also taken away street space from residents. And while the introduction of residents' parking discs in some areas has improved the situation to a degree, auctioneers estimate that the availability of parking is a big bonus when a house is on the market. It can sometimes add up to £50,000 to the value of a property.

In these circumstances it is easy to see why converting a front garden into a parking area is desirable for residents.

Unfortunately, local authorities do not share this desire and are reluctant to facilitate this request in many popular suburbs. Planning permission is required by householders looking to open up their front garden and it appears this permission is often difficult to secure, especially in areas classified as conservation.

Dublin Corporation holds that front gardens and railings are often the most important visual element in an attractive street or road. Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council is also anxious to preserve the character of the streetscape in the south county area. Complicating the matter is the issue of illegal parking: over the years there have been numerous cases of residents opening up their gardens in order to rent out car spaces to businesses in their area.

Rory Deegan of the planning department at Dublin Corporation explains that offstreet parking in certain areas is not a practice it wants to promote. "This is a problem in conservation areas. Look at Waterloo Road, where the large houses have good gardens with distinctive railings. When people come along and take away the railings to provide access for parking cars, it detracts from the setting. The street then loses the on-street parking spaces taken up by the enlarged driveways and people shopping in nearby Baggot Street have nowhere to park, so it becomes a double problem."

Many of the houses in the residential areas of Ballsbridge, Rathmines, Ranelagh and Donnybrook on the southside and Drumcondra, Phibsboro, Clontarf and North Circular Road on the northside are listed homes. Applications for such properties are automatically rejected. Similarly, in the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown area, many Georgian terraced homes, particularly those overlooking the sea, fall into the same category.

Residents looking to create a car-parking space should first get an architect on board and ensure that their garden meets the specific size guidelines laid down by the authorities. If the property is located on a main road where traffic could potentially be held up when a car is turning into the driveway the application will not be favourably received.

Take Carysfort Avenue, Blackrock for example: it's against traffic regulations for a car to reverse on to this classification of road, so there must be room for the car to turn around in the garden space, otherwise the application will be rejected.

John Byrne, senior executive administrative officer for Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, says that while each application is assessed on its own merit, it is doubtful that many properties will meet the criterion. "Not having sufficient space to do a three-point turn rules out a lot of cases," said Byrne.

Dublin Corporation also states that it's essential to know that there is enough space between the front boundary (whether it be a wall, railing or otherwise) and the front of the building. In some cases the space may only be adequate for a very small car but not for a large one. A long car could protrude over the footpath and become a hazard to pedestrians. One of the main principles held by Dublin's local authorities is that the front garden should still give the impression of being a front garden.

IN CASES where the application is successful, the "dishing" of the pavement needs to be carried out by Dublin Corporation at the expense of the householder. Depending on the availability of crews, this process can take a few days and the average cost is around £125.

New work to the front boundary should be sympathetic to the street and the existing boundary, and where a gate pier or gate support has to be moved, it should be reused or reproduced in the new position. The same applies for railings.

There have been many cases where households have opened up their garden without consulting or seeking permission from the relevant authorities. This is illegal. It's regarded as a serious infringement of planning law by the authorities and the householder is required to convert it back into its previous condition. "In most cases the neighbours will ring up to complain and to bring it to our attention," said John Byrne. Dublin Corporation also points out that pathways are public property and in the event of an accident following alterations by the homeowner, he/she is liable in any action that may result.