Young couples cannot afford to build due to rising costs

Many forced to put plans on hold

By Peter Gleeson

Rising construction costs have left many couples throughout Tipperary in a limbo where they have been forced to stall their plans to build new homes, councillors stated at the April meeting of Tipperary County Council.

Cllr Michael O' Meara said a lot of young couples planning to build houses were currently unable to proceed due to the high cost of building materials.

Cllr Joe Hannigan urged the council to extend the five-year limit on grants of planning permission, warning that many people who had the green light from the council to proceed with building could not do so at present due to the high cost of materials.

He warned that many were running out of time and would have to go through the entire process of reapplying for planning permission.

In order to avoid such a scenario, the Kilbarron based councillor urged the council to grant people in this situation an extension to their grant of permission beyond the five year limit.

“This is the real life situation we have at present in Tipperary and it is a real problem that people who have already got planning permission are experiencing,” said Cllr Hannigan.

He said there were many couples and individuals throughout the county who were eager to commence building “but they can't proceed because costs have risen dramatically.”

“People are caught between a rock and a hard place. The budgets they had planned on for building their houses are now shot.”

As a councillor, he said the plight of young couples wanting to build, but being unable to proceed due to costs, was one of the biggest issues he now had to deal with on the ground.

He proposed that the council go to government to seek permission to extend the five-year limit on grants of planning permission.

Senior Executive Planner, Ann Marie Devaney, said there was provision in planning legislation where people could apply for a time extension.

Cllr Michael Fitzgerald said it was the practice of the former South Tipperary County Council to grant extensions on grants of permission in cases were applicants were facing economic hardship. He said he would be wary about going to central government to seek permission to grant extensions on existing permissions.

“We ourselves here in Tipperary have in the past been sympathetic with people running out of time if they were facing economic hardship. I think we should leave well enough alone. I have never seen a problem with someone seeking an extension.”

RISING PRICES

Cllr Hannigan said people who had already been granted permission by the council to build houses and who had budgeted their build at €200,000 were now looking at costs of €300,000 due to inflation and rising costs of materials. “I think we have to do something to facilitate these people because we are now living in unprecedented times.”

Senior Engineer Denis Holland said there was an existing facility open to people to seek an extension to their grant of permission that involved no public notice or involvement of third parties. He encouraged Cllr Hannigan to point this out to his constituents.

Ms Devaney said councillors could engage with the planning department to discuss cases where successful applicants were now running close to the five-year limit.