An official has told a meeting of Meath County Council that its present policy on the installation of modular homes is that those units must be connected to the existing house. Director of Services Padraig Maguire was speaking in reply to queries from Cllrs Nick Killian and Sean Drew. What the council had heard from the government department, and seen in the media, was that there was no detail yet.
New regulations were being drafted and planners from around the country, including Meath, had representation on the committee examining the issue. Exempted the development was one of the key issues being looked at. “Our current policy is that we have seen modular units put into gardens and residential curtilage but they must be connected to the house.
That is the policy of ours and a policy that is probably consistent with every local authority in the country. So if the department chooses to change that then we will have to change our development plan and our policy itself. There are many view and opinions on it out there but the reality is that if someone has a modular unit in their garden without planning permission then we have taken enforcement action because that is the law at this point in time.
It is proposed to change that and, as I say, there are mixed views around it. We work for the policy we have and that’s it for the moment.”
