Farmers need to be able to build on their own land

SATELLITE farming – essentially farmers living away from their farms – is becoming far more common due to ongoing planning permissions issues, a meeting of Galway County Council heard last week.

Farmers who have lands and homes along sideroads leading onto main carriageways are being refused planning permission for a son or daughter who actually want to operate the family farms, according to Kinvara Fine Gael councillor, Joe Byrne.

The reason for this, said Cllr. Byrne, was that Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), who have responsibility for the national roads network, don’t want any more traffic emerging from side roads onto these main roads.

But it has been pointed out by Cllr. Byrne that there are sons and daughters of farmers who live remotely from the farm holding still had to travel there several times a day.

“It makes no difference because they are using the same byroad and generating the same traffic as if they were living on the farm – so it makes no sense not to give them planning,” said Cllr. Byrne.

Members were discussing the Galway County Development Plan and a particular section that referred to the avoidance of the generation of increased traffic from side-roads onto national roads that have speed limits in excess of 60km/h.

In such instances, members of farm families were being refused planning permission on their own lands because it might lead to increased traffic onto the main roads.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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