Chapter 5 – RURAL HOUSING
- Sustainable tourism and sustainable rural housing:
Sustainable Tourism should be a priority for a Peninsula that has become very dependent on tourism for employment and income for the people living in the area. Tourism jobs provide many opportunities for local people leading to a good standard of living. A basic requirement for a good standard of living is housing and the provision of this first essential requirement for our workers and the young people working in tourism and all the other services is very important.
Much of our housing stock is being gainfully used in providing accommodation for visitors and is a good source of income for many people. However, this leaves the area with a shortage of housing for local people who live and work in the |Dingle Peninsula. Long term rental houses are not available and houses for sale are at a price that locals cannot afford
This means new housing is urgently needed for local indigenous people and unfortunately there is none available.
Planning regulations are very restrictive on new houses and the only way the housing crisis which is now country wide can be solved is by building new homes. Rural areas on the Peninsula can absorb many new homes on family farms without having any visual impact on the scenery we are lucky to have. New homes can blend into the landscape in most places if the guidelines in the book, “Building a House in Rural Kerry Design Guidelines 2009” are adhered to. Proposed planning rules are far too restrictive on local applicants who are not employed on farming related work or are not land owners. Persons especially young people who have a site or a site on a family holding but working or living off farm seem to be excluded from obtaining permission to build and live in a rural area.
Dingle Peninsula Tourism Alliance does not support the building of homes in rural areas for subsequent sale on the open market. However, it is very supportive of local rural people or persons from the area but who have left to get work not available in the Dingle area, persons who attended schools in the Dingle area and that have a working standard of our Irish language getting permission for and building a new house in the area for their own use. The plan needs to provide for such persons. Loss of new investment in Rural areas will lead to further decline and further loss to our Language and culture which cannot be replaced.
- Cultural Heritage Consideration:
DPTA recognises the importance of our Language, our music and our local culture as a great attraction for visitors to come to the Dingle Area These important elements are all embedded in the local population who live and strive to succeed here in the Dingle area
There are many Dingle natives who have spent their lives away with frequent visits home to their families many with a good working knowledge of Irish and the culture they grew up in.
These persons have a role to play in keeping the language the music, culture and traditions of the Peninsula alive for future generations and it is requested that they should not be excluded from owning or building a rural house for their own or family use on the Peninsula.
It is now very difficult to build or buy a house within the town area due to both non availability and high prices. Our valued culture etc. must be recognised as equally important to the value of our landscape, a culture which is embedded intrinsically in the people who were born here, educated here, spent their youth here and were immersed naturally in our Irish language and Games.
The present draft of the plan does not appear to cater for this category of person. There is no provision for returning emigrants or persons with cultural and language connections to the area. Many returning to the Dingle area would have a working knowledge of Irish and as such would be an asset to the area. We request that the plan be reviewed with a view to accommodating such persons who play an important part for everyone in maintaining our culture and language as well as the economy of the Peninsula.
3. ZONING
DPTA recognise the zoning of areas of Special Amenity and of Secondary special amenity areas for protection of great scenic value areas as done in the current plan.
However, we recognise that there are different needs in other areas to accommodate farm buildings workshops etc as well as rural housing to cater for the needs of others who are not involved in the tourism or leisure business. These areas were designated rural general in previous plan we note that there is no rural general zone in the new draft plan and that all these areas are covered by the designation Rural Areas Under Urban Influence covering a very large part of our County.
Most of those areas start a few Kilometres outside the town boundaries and extend to cover nearly all lands throughout the County designating these areas as Rural Under Urban Pressure. This is difficult to understand as most of these areas are places where there is very little population growth and some have population decline and are lacking in young people. The designation of Rural General would be more appropriate for those areas as was in the present plan and might encourage some activities to maintain a living countryside. People are needed to maintain a vibrant living countryside. Deserted villages and unpopulated country areas are not places that are a joy to see. The Zoning of a very large area of countryside as Rural Under Urban Pressure with the conditions that follow this Zoning are not going to help to maintain our rural countryside that is declining in some places. We would ask you to review this Zoning model as we believe that the present or previous plan gives a better picture and clarity to the different Zoned areas.
Dingle Peninsula Tourism Alliance appreciates the value of a living landscape throughout our County for its numerous benefits to everyone locals and visitors alike.
4 Tourists and Visitors – Barcelona Declaration “A Better Place to Live, A Better Place to Visit”
The People and the Place are the key elements of a destination – we must work together to take care of both as they go hand in hand and are dependent on each other. We need to care for our place and its beauty and we need to equally care for our people to ensure we have employment housing and other services for our people whether they are involved in tourism or any other activity or way of living. Housing and planning are topics that have come for a lot of discussion in recent years and we request that measures be put in place in the new plan that will ensure the housing requirements of our local people are addressed as a priority.
The continued success of our Tourist business depends so much on our people we must ensure that housing needs are addressed for the young and not so young. The new plan must ensure that the housing needs of our local population are addressed and that this can only be done by improving the supply of houses. New builds in Dingle town area are not within the price that locals can afford and the only option left is to build a home in a rural area. This may not be the preferred option in any plan but it must be recognised that it is a far better option than continuing with a housing crisis that has no end in sight and leaving our upcoming generation with no hope of having a house of their own.
There are many young couples that could provide their own home on family land but present planning rules cannot be satisfied under the current plan. This needs to be addressed again with the help of the guidelines provided in the book, “Building a House in Rural Kerry” and an adjustment of some conditions laid down in the new plan. This is needed to address our housing crisis and provide permanent secure housing for our local people who are such a vital part of our tourism sector.
Sustainable tourism policy seeks to improve the quality of life for all and that means no one should be without a home of their own.
“KCDP 5 – 7 Facilitate and support the objectives and actions of “Housing for All, a New Housing Plan for Ireland” in relation to policy initiatives for rural housing” – DPTA requests consideration be given to families of local farmers and landowners in much desired areas such as the Dingle Peninsula, where the recent demand in the purchase of local houses / homes by people not from the area as second homes (and permanent homes) has driven the house prices outside of the price range of local families;
The increase in houses / homes being used for Airbnb purposes has increased dramatically the number of local families who cannot rent or afford to buy on the Dingle Peninsula unless they have the option to build themselves;
There must be balance in tourism ‘hotspots’ to ensure that local families and communities are not driven from the region due to house price increases, tourist accommodation only purposes leading to the cultural heritage and Irish language demise of the Corca Dhuibhne.