Planning policies which restricted new dwellings to those working and living in the general area in order to curb the growth of one-off houses in the countryside were too severe, councillors in Kerry argued yesterday during discussion of the new draft county development plan.
There was now effectively "war" between the executive and councillors over planning inconsistencies, and planning policy in the county was "losing shape", Mr Jimmy Deenihan TD ( FG) said.
A total of four Section 140s and material contraventions were unanimously passed by councillors yesterday, despite warnings from management that the proposed development in one case would endanger public safety.
The entrance to the site was from the N22 National Primary Road, at an area where there was insufficient sight distance, the planners and engineers argued.
In a separate case at Ballyheigue, that of an application for a seven-bedroom, four-reception-room house in a non-traditional design, planners had refused permission because it was highly visible from long stretches of the public road on "one of the few remaining unspoilt, truly scenic areas of north Kerry".
The proposed house was between the road and the sea in an area zoned Secondary Special Amenity, and an alternative site was available. Councillors voted to overturn permission.
Farmers who might never build houses needed planning permission for collateral from the banks, and that situation had to be recognised, Mr Denis Foley (FF) said.
Planning policy in the county was blamed for the decline in numbers in a rural school on the Killarney-Inch Strand road.
For the first time Castledrom NS had no new entrants this year, Cllr Michael O'Shea ( FF) said. A more balanced approach was needed to keep people in communities, he said.
"What good is scenery to a farmer? He can't eat it," Cllr Michael Connor-Scarteen (FG) said of restrictions on much of the Ring of Kerry.
Cllr Paul O'Donoghue (FF) said the current rural settlement policy was like "a three-card trick" and an elaborate hoax.
"You think you have it figured out and then you are fooled," he said.
The county's holiday-home policy, too, was overly restrictive. There was an outright ban on planning permissions for holiday homes in rural areas, but farmers needed to sell sites, Cllr O'Donoghue said.
There would be no development whatsoever on the 110-mile Ring of Kerry if the county development plan were adopted, yet there were sections on this route which had little or no scenic value, he said.
Mr Martin Nolan, the Kerry county manager, said the executive did not have a prohibition on rural housing in Kerry.