Mayo needs large-scale residential projects, not back garden flats
Why is the government talking about giving incentives to building contractors to construct houses?
Apart from creating the wrong impression, one would have thought there is incentive enough already in the market place due to the high numbers seeking homes that are affordable for them.
However, there is a strong case to be made for local authority to make sites, and particularly derelict and vacant ones which they own, available to developers to kick-start the building sector with the provision of high numbers of social dwellings as well as relatively low-rent and low-cost homes.
The latest proposal by the government in respect of modular homes and back garden units points to a level of panic within the Department of Housing - but it cannot be completely dismissed.
What is essentially needed in the short-term in Mayo is a number of large-scale residential developments at fully-serviced urban location to meet the existing need.
Earlier this month Sligo County Council granted planning permission for a development consisting of 207 units on a 15-acre site at Oakfield Road, near the town of Sligo.
Behind the project is a family-owned company, Novot Holdings Ltd., which plans to build 21 one-bedroom apartments, 37 two -bedroom apartments, four two-bedroom terrace houses, 99 three-bedroom terrace houses, four three-bedroom semi-detached houses and 42 four-bedroom semi-detached houses.
The project also includes the provision of a créche facility and pedestrian and cycle access along Oakfield Road into Sligo.
One of the conditions of planning is that the developer must enter into an agreement with the council that restricts all houses to first occupation by individual purchasers.
This rule, along with the nature of the development itself, makes very good sense in terms of making serious inroads in tackling the community's current needs.
Of course, it won't be straightforward because of an appeal to An Bord Pleanála with over 30 objections submitted to the council over the proposal and concerns about over-volume of existing traffic on this road at peak hours, road safety, the scale of the development, traffic congestion and the height of the proposed apartments.
Everyone has the right to object, of course, but surely the public at large needs to buy into the fact that a housing crisis exists in this nation and we all need to make sacrifices in addressing it.
On a further point, there's also an onus on the planning appeals board to speed up its decision-making in respect of major housing developments and well as for lending institutions to be fairer with their mortgages.