Planning permission for a driveway??

dudara

I viewed a house recently that I’m quite interested in. Problem is that it’s located on a relatively busy road in the city, and it doesn’t have a driveway. Our car would have to be parked around the corner on a perpendicular street and out of sight.

I’m thinking about an offer but only if I could be certain of getting approval to add a driveway. How do I go about seeing if this is possible, or if it’s a non-runner from the start?

Caranica

Start by looking at other houses in the area and planning applications (you can usually view by map) to try and suss out the likelihood of getting permission. Also worth talking to a councillor to see what the latest position is.

Victor

Talk to the council planner for the area.

dudara

I sent an email this morning to Dublin City planning looking got guidance and I got a phone call back in 2 hours (talk about excellent service).

While she couldn't answer my question immediately, she wanted to give me some pointers to help. So I thought I'd share them here in case they're of use to anyone

1. Look around the road, and neighbouring roads to see if previous houses have done similar
2. Determine if the house is a protected structure or in a conservation area
3. Search for previous planning applications
4. Set up a pre-planning consultation with one of the city planners to get a handle on feasibility (could be challenging to arrange this in time)

Marcusm

If there is regulated parking on the street and it’s a high demand area then they will almost certainly reject it out of hand. Attitude is that to make your driveway they would need to remove at least one on street space which is a communal asset.

dudara

Marcusm wrote: »

If there is regulated parking on the street and it’s a high demand area then they will almost certainly reject it out of hand. Attitude is that to make your driveway they would need to remove at least one on street space which is a communal asset.

To be clear, there is no on-street parking in front of the house. The nearest on-street parking is around the corner on another street.

JimmyMW

dudara wrote: »

To be clear, there is no on-street parking in front of the house. The nearest on-street parking is around the corner on another street.

If its a busy road the main stumbling block which you will most likely face is backing out onto the road or alternatively backing in off of the road. I'm assuming that the front of the house will not be big enough to have two cars drive in and turn within the property and drive out?

Marcusm

dudara wrote: »

To be clear, there is no on-street parking in front of the house. The nearest on-street parking is around the corner on another street.

That’s a positive. I’m in Dublin 6 and generally where there is no on-street parking, neighbouring streets have driveways. Where there is on street parking, DCC try to rigidly enforce a no new entrances rule. There have been exception, BO’D has been able to renew an old permission for a new entrance to his front garden on Palmerston Road (loss of one onstreet space) in return for giving up an entrance on Ormonde Road (thereby creating a new onstreet space there).

draiochtanois

This post has been deleted.

Del2005

JimmyMW wrote: »

If its a busy road the main stumbling block which you will most likely face is backing out onto the road or alternatively backing in off of the road. I'm assuming that the front of the house will not be big enough to have two cars drive in and turn within the property and drive out?

I know people who live on a busy road. They have to drive in in the evening and then later go out and reverse in so they can get out in the morning. It might be easier to park around the corner if it's a very busy road.

JimmyMW

Del2005 wrote: »

I know people who live on a busy road. They have to drive in in the evening and then later go out and reverse in so they can get out in the morning. It might be easier to park around the corner if it's a very busy road.

I'm not saying these situations don't exist, however most likely these are historic driveways not newly constructed ones, I'm saying getting permission to create this situation now is a totally different ball game.

dudara

JimmyMW wrote: »

If its a busy road the main stumbling block which you will most likely face is backing out onto the road or alternatively backing in off of the road. I'm assuming that the front of the house will not be big enough to have two cars drive in and turn within the property and drive out?

That would indeed be the case, it's a small garden so space for one car only. Reversing into the space, or reversing out - neither option is ideal given the business of the road.

I've done some further reading and it appears the house is in a conservation area in Dublin. Therefore, limited possibility of getting a space unless it does not disrupt the aspects of the house. Given that the front garden is not huge, adding a space would be significant change so that doesn't bode well for the feasibility of getting planning.