No 'bungalow bliss' plans for Laois serviced sites on sale
A suggestion has been made to do a 'bungalow bliss' style of modular housing on serviced sites on sale from Laois County Council, to speed up housing delivery.
There are 23 serviced sites on sale by Laois County Council in small villages around the county.
They are sold at a discount price, to a maximum of €30,000 to anyone, but preference is given to first time buyers, people with specific needs, or older people who want to sell a rural house and move to a village. It is not open to developers.
Cllr Aisling Moran suggests that buyers choose from a book of preplanned modular houses, similar to the house design book Bungalow Bliss from 1971 that offered set house plans.
"It would save them six months. If they were modular homes they could be built in a month. They could come in and have a discussion in a pre-planning meeting," she suggested at the April meeting of Laois County Council.
In answer, the Director of Services for housing said that people prefer to design their own homes.
"This allows people who want different house types to serve their own needs. People like to have flexibility in designing it themselves. We can look at it in terms of designs," Director Angela McEvoy said.
The Cathaoirleach is Cllr Thomasina Connell.
"I am not sure that Bungalow Bliss delivered good planning," she commented.
The Director explained the rules on serviced sites which measure some .25 acres.
"People can only buy one site and must live on it. They are on zoned land so local needs doesn't apply. You must look for planning permission within three months and have it built within 12 months of getting permission."
She said that while the sites have sewage, electricity and water services running to the boundary, buyers must pay for connections up to the property themselves.
In Laois, there are eight sites for sale in Durrow, four in Ballyroan, two in Doonane and nine in Castletown.
The council has also launched a survey to find out where potential buyers of serviced sites want to live, and what the level of interest is. See it on their website.