The North is stemming the stampede of one-off rural housing, while the Republic still facilitates it, writes Frank McDonald, Environment Editor
What a contrast there is now between the planning policies on rural housing in Northern Ireland and in the Republic.
North of the Border, the authorities are seeking to stop the "bungalow blitz", while in the south - by direction of the Government - the planning system is meant to facilitate it.
The new policy in the North, announced on March 16th, amounts to a blanket ban on new houses in the countryside, with only a handful of exceptions, whereas the current policy in the South seeks to cater for almost anyone who wants to build such a house, particularly in rural areas suffering population decline.
According to Minister for the Environment Dick Roche, the so-called Sustainable Rural Housing guidelines - finalised last April - would "usher in a new era which enables planning authorities to respond positively to the housing needs of rural communities as an integral part of the sustainable development of rural areas".
However, it is precisely because a stampede of development in the countryside is seen as unsustainable that Jeff Rooker, the North's minister for rural development, was moved to publish a new planning policy statement (PPS 14, as it's called) that will bring down the shutters on relentless suburbanisation of the rural environment.
In recent years, as he pointed out, the number of rural planning approvals in the North has soared from 1,790 in 1991 to 9,520 in 2004, with indications that the latest annual figure will be well over 12,000. "That's equivalent to a town the size of Ballymena [ and] three times the combined total in England, Scotland and Wales," he said.
Given the relatively small geographical area of Northern Ireland compared with the whole of Britain, the figures are certainly alarming. What's even more alarming is that the output of one-off houses in rural areas of the Republic is much higher still, accounting for up to 40 per cent of the record number of new homes built in recent years.
"We are wasting the countryside by pepper-potting it with dwellings that are not sustainable because they require motor cars, massive numbers of septic tanks and actually help destroy communities," Rooker told BBC Northern Ireland. "What we need to do is preserve the villages and towns by enabling them to grow."
Describing the countryside as one of the North's greatest assets, he said protecting it was in everyone's interest. The current level of development "threatens the rural landscape". There were also concerns about threats to water quality from septic tanks as well as the dangers posed by increased traffic on narrow rural roads.
Under the new policy, "a presumption against development will be operated throughout the countryside with the exception of a limited number of types of development which are considered in principle to be acceptable". No other development will be permitted unless there are overriding reasons why it can't be located in a town or village.
Justifying these restrictions, PPS 14 notes that 63,000 approvals were granted for one-off houses over the past 10 years. "This rate of approval brings with it significant environmental, financial and social costs. It erodes the character and appearance of our landscape. In certain areas, suburban-type sprawl now dominates the rural scene."
It says all of this has come with increased costs - "everything from school transport to improving drainage infrastructure". The ongoing rate of approvals was also "impacting on the vitality and sustainability of our towns and villages, creating unbalanced growth as greater numbers of people have chosen to live in the countryside".
TAKING EVERYTHING INTO account, PPS 14 says the continuation of these trends "is now judged to represent a significant threat to the environment and therefore is considered to be unsustainable". For this reason stricter controls will be exercised over new housing, with a limited number of exceptions to meet the needs of the rural community.
The only exceptions apply to new houses for farmers and retiring farmers, or where a new house is essential to the needs of a non-agricultural enterprise, as well as replacements for dilapidated houses, the filling in of small gap sites in an otherwise built-up frontage, small schemes of social housing or the conversion of heritage buildings.
Farmers will have to demonstrate that a new house is essential to meet the needs of the farm, that the farm business is established and viable, that the need relates to a full-time farm worker or one who is mainly involved in agriculture, that there are no alternative development opportunities available and that no sites have been sold.
"Each house approved on the basis of agricultural need will be subject to a condition restricting occupation of the dwelling to a person mainly working or last working in agriculture in the locality and to any resident dependants. This is to ensure that the proposed house is kept available to meet the agricultural needs of that farm or locality."
The policy recognises that sons and daughters of farmers have a key role in sustaining the rural community, and says permission may also be granted for new houses in these cases, even though it may not be strictly necessary on agricultural grounds. However, this would be "unlikely to apply" if their main employment is elsewhere.
Any new building would be unacceptable if it would constitute a prominent feature on the landscape, if the site lacks long-established natural boundaries to integrate into the landscape, if "it relies primarily on the use of new landscaping for integration", or if the design of the building is "inappropriate for the site and its locality".
Planning permission will only be granted for houses relying on septic tanks "where the applicant can demonstrate that this will not create or add to a pollution problem. . . In those areas identified as having a pollution risk, development relying on non-mains sewerage will only be permitted in exceptional circumstances", the policy says.
Permission will also be refused for any development that "mars the distinction" between a village or town and the surrounding countryside or that otherwise results in urban sprawl extending into rural areas. The aim here is to maintain that distinction between town and country, by "preventing coalescence between adjacent built-up areas".
Though the new policy is open to public consultation for 12 weeks, it is being applied with immediate effect. If this had not been done, said Jeff Rooker, the Planning Service would have been swamped with applications during the consultation period. This would have undermined the very purpose of the proposed new policies." It is unlikely, of course, that a similar set of policies would have been adopted if local politicians were in charge, rather than direct-rule British ministers. Right across the political spectrum, from Sinn Féin to the unionist parties, PPS 14 has been criticised as unduly restrictive of rural development - a view endorsed by the Ulster Farmers Union.
But Lisa Fagan, of Friends of the Earth, said the new policy was necessary to prevent "Donegal-style development" in Northern Ireland - even though many of Co Donegal's scenic landscapes have been blighted by holiday homes owned by people from the North, and this is likely to intensify because of the restrictions across the Border.
However, it's not just a question of holiday homes. The number of one-off houses being added to rural landscapes in the Republic now amounts to roughly 32,000 a year - equivalent to roughly 10 times the rate of output in the whole of Britain. And this unsustainable trend will only be aggravated by the Sustainable Rural Housing guidelines.
In the North, nearly 90 per cent of the coastline has some statutory protection, and large swathes of countryside, such as the Mournes and the Glens of Antrim, are designated as Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. So in years to come, if the new rural housing policy is upheld, there will still be some parts of the island that remain relatively unspoiled.