Rural Housing

Members' Statements – in the Northern Ireland Assembly at 12:00 pm on 27 September 2021.

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Photo of Emma Sheerin Emma Sheerin Sinn Féin 12:00, 27 September 2021

I want to raise the issue of rural housing, specifically the changes to planning permission that were brought in at the beginning of the summer via the Infrastructure Minister's planning advice note. The note was issued to councils at the beginning of the summer without any consultation, and it poses a threat to our rural communities.

It is a rights issue. Rural dwellers pay the same contributions, taxes and rates as anyone else, but they do not have the same access to services and infrastructure as our city and town dwellers. Now, they will not even be able to build on their own land in many instances. That will rule out what is called an infill or a cluster dwelling, and it will require houses that are built in connection with a farm to be built in the yard. As someone who was reared on a farm, I know how impractical and, indeed, dangerous that is. The Ulster Farmers' Union has pointed out the many challenges that this presents to the sustainability of our family farms and, indeed, the risks to mortgages and to people's ability to build a house.

Since the issue came to light, I have been inundated with calls from young couples, planning agents and people living on family farms, all of whom are concerned about what it will mean for their future. Council planning officers already implement planning policy in a thorough and responsible manner, which is why so many applications take so long to be processed. I have taken part in many site meetings with councillors from Mid Ulster District Council, during which we have urged people to amend their applications to ensure their successful passage and that the dwelling that they wish to build will not have an impact on the environment. Planning is already stringent, sustainable and measured. The last thing that we need is more restriction on who can build and where. The planning committee in Mid Ulster District Council is so worried about the note that it held a special meeting to discuss it and has pledged, with cross-party support, to write to the Minister about the issues that the note has thrown up.

We have a housing crisis in the North. The shortage of public and private rental stock means that landlords are able to get away with charging extortionate rents. Meanwhile, in our smaller towns, many of the much-needed houses are occupied by people who intend to build a forever home in the country but are waiting to have the finances and planning permission to enable them do so. The note will add financial pressure, time pressure and unnecessary stress to the process. It will serve to make building a home a more exclusive enterprise.

Many of the constituents who have contacted me are attempting to build on the family farm in order to ensure its continuation and to maintain the link with past generations, many of whom had to work hard to hold on to their fields. The pressures on our health and social care services mean that many families rely on elderly parents to care for their young children and on grown-up children to care for their elderly parents. For that to work, they need to live nearby.

I ask the Minister to rescind the note immediately and to allow people to build in the communities that they call home.