Proposal to use Mayo holiday home as full-time residence turned down

PLANS by a holiday home owner to use their west Mayo property as a full-time residence have received the thumbs down from council planners.

The applicant hoped to carry out some alterations to their house and live there now they have retired.

Application was made for a change of use from holiday home to permanent residential dwelling, including renovation and extension of the property, at Uisce Saol, Money, Westport.

The permission sought was to convert the existing four-bedroom holiday home into a permanent three-bedroom dwelling to provide suitable long-term accommodation as the applicant is now retired.

Her plans included an extension to the kitchen, dining, and living area, making efficient use of the existing structure and services.

However, planners found the proposal raised a precedent within a coastal area under urban pressure.

Having reviewed the planning history on site, it was noted that the development and this location relates to a spa and associated holiday home development.

The provision of a full-time residential scheme would not have been permitted at the location.

“Approval of the development as proposed would therefore set a precedent for further such applications with Uisce Saol and indeed the wider area which would have the potential to lead to full-time residential developments and would set an undesirable precedent for further such development on site,” a planning report stated.

The site is within a rural area, outside of any designated settlement, where it is policy to grant permission for permanent dwellings only on the basis of the applicant being able to demonstrate their social or economic need in a number of specific circumstances as outlined in the county development plan.

The change of use would undermine national and local housing policy, which aims to direct urban generated housing needs into towns and villages.

The planners report said a grant of permission would set an undesirable precedent for similar proposals which may lead to a proliferation of multi-unit residential developments in unserviced rural areas on shared, private effluent treatment units, thereby posing a threat to public health, and in contravention of the development plan, which aims to direct multiple residential developments to those settlements identified in the core strategy.

The proposed development was therefore contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area, was the finding.