Rural Housing: In spite of plans to make it easier for locals to build in rural areas, one Wicklow man found he wasn't allowed. Tim O'Brien reports

The Minister for the Environment Dick Roche might have been thinking of John Dalton when he fulminated against restrictions on local people being allowed to build homes in the rural areas where they grew up, where they work, and where very often their families still live.

John Dalton grew up with his family in the rural town of Baltinglass in west Wicklow. He attended local schools, played in local sports clubs and Baltinglass is where most of his friends still live. Apart from a few years in Australia, when he met and married his wife, John has always lived and been a part of the Baltinglass community. He represents an import/export company and would be based in a home office in his new house. The family home, in which he lives now, is a stone's throw from that of the Fine Gael TD Billy Timmons and Dick Roche himself represents Wicklow - and John - in the Dáil.

So when he arrived back from Australia in October 2004 with two young children and applied for planning permission to build on a site next door to his brother's house in a rural area, John might have thought he would qualify. But now his hopes of rearing children in Baltinglass lie in tatters. His wife and children have gone back to Australia for an extended holiday and he has little choice but to join them there if he can't get Wicklow County Council to change its mind and allow him to build.

"I am Irish, of course I would like to live here. I have the best parents in the world but, with a young family, we can't go on living with them for ever. I really thought I would be able to live in my own country, but now it looks like that is out," he told The Irish Times. John is particularly upset that, in assessing his application, the planning inspectors actually recommended that his application be approved.

As part of the application process, John was asked to satisfy the planners on five key points. These included issues about a septic tank in an adjacent field - John increased his site from about three-quarters of an acre to more than one acre to overcome that problem. John also drew back the road boundary to provide an 80-metre sight line and dropped the proposed height of the building, both at the council's request. He also drew up a detailed tree planting scheme, using trees and shrubs nominated by the council.

His application was approved by the area engineer, Declan Geraghty and the planning official in charge of his case Elaine Gammell. But the director of planning Bryan Doyle wrote a note on the file ordering that a decision be put on hold. Mr Doyle noted that proof of John's family residence had not been obtained from the land registry "as required".

However, John maintains that it was never even mentioned. He had a Garda statement and proof of attendance at a local school. Ultimately, the council decided to reject the application, mentioning that the site was in an area of natural amenity.

John's local status, which might have overridden the scenic area prohibition, was denied, even though the council eventually accepted his bona fides as a Baltinglass man.

He was, however, a resident of the town of Baltinglass, the council said, rather than the rural Baltinglass area. As his site was about a mile-and-a-half from the centre of Baltinglass, he could not be considered a rural person.

But John looked up the planning guidelines introduced by Mr Roche and discovered "the law of the land", as he describes it, defines town populations of less than 1,500 people as entirely "rural". By this criteria, he argues he was a member of a rural area and should be allowed to build.

"It is the minister's own guideline and is part of the planning and development act but it is not good enough for Wicklow County Council," he said. "Wicklow is not implementing the guidelines," concludes John, who wonders how effective the guidelines can be generally, if they mean little in the specific.

"About six guys I know in Baltinglass are in the same position. But if people make too much of a fuss, they might not get permission in the end of the day."

John believes the State's policy on encouraging young people to return to Ireland is a sham. The proximity of the town to Dublin means prices are high and homes are snapped up. The implications for Baltinglass of John and his friends not getting permission is the loss of a generation of local people. Dispirited, he remarks as we part that "Australia is not such a bad place to live anyway".