Building a house in County Longford: the 5-year local rural area test, the 7-year condition and the €2,140 charge

Who decides, and how to apply

Longford County Council decides applications for the county. The plan in force is the Longford County Development Plan 2021-2027. Rural housing is in chapter 4, with siting and design standards in chapter 16 and the rural design guidance in Annex 7.

Read how a one-off house application works first. The council’s planning pages explain how to apply and let you look up applications already made near your site.

Two kinds of rural area

The plan’s Rural Typology Map divides the county in two. Rural Areas Under Strong Urban Influence are those near the larger towns of the county with evidence of considerable housing pressure. There the policy is to house people with strong links to the particular rural area. Rural Areas Elsewhere are the residual areas, from stable rural areas to structurally weaker ones with persistent population decline. In these the council applies a more flexible approach, and the requirement to show local housing need does not apply (CPO 4.26).

The local need test in the strong-influence area

Under CPO 4.24 you must meet all of these:

1. You were born in the local rural area, or you live or have lived there for at least 5 years at any stage before applying. This includes returning emigrants. The local rural area is generally within 8 km of where you were born, lived or live, and excludes the towns, villages and serviced rural villages in the settlement hierarchy.
2. You have a functional economic or social requirement to live in that rural area. Economic means full-time farming, horticulture or forestry or a similar rural-based occupation that is predominant. Pending revised national guidelines, the plan treats the social requirement as met by point 1.
3. You do not own, and have not owned, a house in the open countryside.
4. If the site is in an Area of Special Control, there is no alternative site outside it.
5. The siting and design are of high quality.

The council gives special consideration to exceptional health circumstances, supported by documentation from a registered medical practitioner and a disability organisation. See rural housing and local need for the evidence councils look for.

Conditions that follow the permission

In the strong-influence area every permission carries an occupancy condition under Section 47 for 7 years from first occupation, restricting the house to you as your permanent residence (CPO 4.28). The council restricts development on a landholding with a history of speculative site sales, even if you meet the criteria (CPO 4.29).

Siting rules

The plan defines ribbon development as five or more houses along 250 metres of road frontage and discourages it (CPO 4.32), with special regard to immediate family of a landowner on single infill sites. Recessed clusters of up to five houses can be considered (CPO 4.33). Backland houses are considered only for family members and must be single storey with screening in place before occupation (CPO 4.34). New accesses onto regional roads with an 80 km/h limit are restricted (CPO 4.38), and entrances should be in keeping with the rural setting with native hedging (CPO 4.40). The plan also prefers restoring a derelict vernacular building (CPO 4.41) or replacing a habitable house (CPO 4.42) to a new build elsewhere.

The development charge

Longford’s Development Contribution Scheme 2023-2027 charges €2,140 for a residential unit outside the development envelope: €530 for rural facilities plus €1,610 for roads. The June 2026 review is the latest on the council’s site, and the council is preparing a supplementary scheme, so check for a newer one before relying on the figure. The national waiver covered only homes started on site between 25 April 2023 and 31 December 2024, so a house starting now cannot qualify. See the waiver guide.

To see how Longford’s charge compares, the development contributions table compares the charge for a 200 square metre house across all 31 councils.

Wastewater and site suitability

Most rural sites treat their own wastewater, and the plan requires site suitability tests to follow the EPA code of practice (CPO 4.35). A site that fails the test will fail the application whatever your local need. Read site suitability assessments and wastewater treatment systems before you pay for the test.