Garden cabin regulations and other planning changes to be signed in the coming days

REGULATIONS TO ALLOW homeowners to build modular units up to 45 square metres in their back gardens without planning permission will be signed in the coming days. 

Appearing before an Oireachtas committee today, Minister of State in the Department of Housing John Cummins said while a lot of media attention has been focused on cabins in gardens, there other planning changes being made too. 

These include a new exemption that will allow a person subdivide their home into two units, with a minimum floor area for each subdivided unit of 32 square metres.

Bike and bin storage units in both the front and back of a property will no longer require planning permission, nor will the insulation on external walls. 

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Dormer roof box and the insertion of a roof light in a house will also be exempt from planning permission requirements. 

“I believe strongly that Ireland’s planning system exists to serve the public, not to stand in its way.

“And that is why I am bringing forward these changes to planning exemptions because for too long, many homeowners have found themselves tied up in unnecessary bureaucracy when trying to make modest, practical and sensible changes to their properties,” Cummins said today. 

He said the new measures will empower people to make changes to their homes without the need for planning permission, thereby creating a greater array of housing options for people.

However, housing charity Threshold has expressed concern at plans to allow people to build log cabin homes without planning permission in their back gardens.

In their submission to the housing committee, the charity said it is concerned that “these regulations will result in a new category of renter that sits outside the protections of the Residential Tenancies Act”. 

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It was a point echoed by Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne today, who accused the government of ramming through the planning changes without proper Oireachtas scrutiny.

“The danger is this will result in thousands of families, young and old, renting with no clear rights or security. It’s another example of the government making bad housing policy following heavy lobbying,” said Hearne. 

The regulations will come into effect following a circular being sent to notify local authorities with a date for commencement.