Council is urged to relax rules on one-off housing in Erris

A Belmullet councillor has called on Mayo County Council to stop using scenic views as a reason for refusing planning permission for homes.

Noting that six applications were refused by the council in recent times, Cllr Gerry Coyle stated at the May meeting of the authority that he had encountered a number of cases where people who wanted to set up a permanent home in Erris had been denied planning permission.

"A couple I am dealing with are fluent Gaelgeoirs, but they are told their site is scenic and so they can’t build on it and that is not fair.” 

He added that another planning issue was impacting a local couple who were trying to move into what was a former school and have now been told they have to apply for a Section 5 declaration in relation to a change of use. 

“The school is closed and they were due to move into it last year”, he said.

Cllr Coyle told management that Erris seemed to be specifically targetted when it came to decisions around scenie views.

“I would like a breakdown by municipal district of how planning is going. The Westport-Belmullet Municipal District seems to be fully in the line of target for the scenic views but we live here on the bad days as well. We have to be more accommodating to the people from the area, who live in the area.

"I live in a scenic area but never once did that put a slice of bread on the table," added the long-serving Fine Gael councillor.

Director of Services Catherine McConnell agreed to discuss the matter further with Cllr Coyle.

• Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.