Call on council to clarify powers available to mitigate against holiday home purchase in Rostrevor

COUNCILLOR Jarlath Tinnelly has motioned for the council to provide clarity on what measures will be included in its upcoming local development plan to mitigate against properties along the south Down coast being purchased by those living outside the area.

The independent councillor for Crotlieve cited ongoing problems with local families being priced out of being able to purchase property in the area where they have been born and raised. This is due to houses, that may very well have once been social houses, being bought by those as far away as Cork and Dublin to be used as holiday homes and B and B’s as the primary motivation as to why he has motioned the council to provide clarity on this issue.

“In my own area in Rostrevor and generally throughout what you would call the more desirable parts of South Down such as the coast, local people and local families are increasingly being priced out of being able to buy in the places where they were born and raised and in areas where it is they have generational ties.

“South Down has now become a very desirable place for people all throughout the island to purchase holiday homes. People from Cork and Dublin are buying holiday homes on the South Down coast, I have noticed this myself. There are quite a few holiday homes in and around my own village of Rostrevor. There are probably B and Bs in most housing estates in Rostrevor, certainly in the majority. Houses that were formally social houses are now B and B's.

“If anything, the problem is only going to increase when we have the Southern Relief Road that will make the South Down coastal area even more accessible to vehicles and people outside the area. This all feeds into an escalating problem whereby housing stock that previously would have been available to be bought or sold and in which local people may have had the chance to bid on it or buy it is being closed off.

“This problem is an incremental problem, but it is also a increasing problem. It is slowly turning from a trickle, to a steady stream of houses being bought and thus being removed from the affordability of local families on what it is you would call an average wage.

“It is a matter of public record that there are over 1000 people on the social housing waiting list in this district alone and in the Warrenpoint area as well that would encompass Rostrevor as well there are over 150 people on the housing waiting list. I also don't believe that this tells the full story because there is an awful lot of people who resign themselves to renting from the private sector and do not apply for social housing because they realise that there is no prospect in the short-term for social housing to be built so they do not see the point of putting themselves on a list for social housing.

“This whole issue is further compounded by the fact that the Housing Executive no longer builds houses, it is housing associations and housing associations have a finite budget for being able to buy up land that they can use to build social housing. So, they are never going to be in a position, particularly in areas of high demand and desirable areas to live like the South Down coast to do this.”

Bespoke arrangements

Councillor Tinnelly elaborated further on what arrangements could be put in place to mitigate against local families being priced out of purchasing property along the South Down coast area, relating the fact that currently as it stands these measures are non-existent in the councils current development plan as it was handed down to the local government body eight years ago by the Department of Infrastructure.

“What I would like to highlight with the motion is that this is not just a problem that is unique to the north coast, it is a problem that is increasingly affecting the South Down coast. The Department of Infrastructure released a statement recently stating that they had no plans in relation to this but it was their view that local councils could make bespoke arrangements.

“Now what the DFI are talking about in regards these bespoke arrangements is that they should be part of the new local development plan that the council is currently working on.

“As it stands even though planning has been under the control of the council for the past eight years, the planning policies that they have to adhere to were handed down to them by the DFI before that. So, the council are working of a previous development plan that is still in use.

“This previous development plan which is now the council's current development plan does not allow for the so-called bespoke arrangements, as in local houses for local people and certain other mitigating measures.

So currently we have no powers. There is not a week goes by where I do not hear from local residents who question me as to why it is these policies are in pace in parts of Britain and the Republic, but not in our own council area.

“Therefore, the purpose of the motion is to encourage the council to detail what bespoke arrangements will put place to help deal with this problem in the next local development plan.”

Local housing need must be met

Councillor Tinnelly concluded by relating the fact that whilst he does understand the drafting of the new local development plan is in his own words "a very large piece of work” and he has every respect for the council officers that are working on it , with his motion he would still like to encourage the council to speed up.

“I want to encourage the council to hurry up and get our development plan presented before us, agreed and implemented so we are able then to start to put mitigating measures in place that reflects the reality on the ground which is local housing need has to be meet. Be this through affordable housing, or social housing, or a combination of both.

“So, it is only when our own new local development plan is drafted, designed, agreed and approved by council can we put our own measures in place, ie make our own planning laws.

“We will have the power to make our planning laws but the specifics have yet to be agreed as to what this power will entail or where the parameters will be in regards what it is we can do.

“However, be in no doubt we can do something because this is what the DfI was alluding to when they said that it was their view that they do not have to change the law as it currently sits because the council will have the bespoke powers to do their own thing.”

“We are all frustrated that our local development plan has taken so long to put together but it is a massive piece of ongoing work.

“I do not detract from the work that our council officers are putting into this because I know there are people working on this full-time, but the subject matter of bespoke arrangements for local areas is only a part of our local development plan which is a very large piece of work.”