Tuesday 9 January 2007

Only locals allowed in Fingal

Tim Healy in the Irish Independent delivers bad news for prople who want a one-off house in Fingal:

PEOPLE expecting to buy €350,000 sites to build a dream home in Dublin's rural hinterland have been warned only locals will be allowed to live in them.
Fingal Council, which operates a "locals only" policy for one-off housing in its mainly rural administrative area of north county Dublin, has written to at least one estate agent selling such sites informing him of the policy.
The reminder came as councillors last night rejected an attempt to rezone a piece of green belt land at Gormanstown, near Balbriggan, for what supporters said were "third generation" locals.
Permission
The land, at Tobersool Lane, would provide "a couple of houses" for local families who have had difficulty getting planning permission, local Independent Cllr May McKeon said. Quarter-acre sites were being sold for around €350,000 to "city slickers", Cllr Michael Kennedy (FF) said.
But Fingal Co Manager, David O'Connor, said the auctioneer advertising those €350,000 sites had been written to and told planning permission to build was subject to the council's rural housing policy. Buyers must have a connection usually through farming or agriculture-related job.

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