Building a house in County Wicklow: functional need in the open countryside, the born-and-reared test and the €7,025 rural charge

Who decides, and how to apply

Wicklow County Council decides applications for the county. Its planning pages explain how to apply and let you search applications already made, which is a quick way to see how the council has treated sites near yours. The rural housing rules are in chapter 6 of the Wicklow County Development Plan 2022-2028, which was adopted in September 2022. The council varied chapter 6 in March 2026, and the plan can be varied again, so check the current text before you buy a site.

Read how a one-off house application works first. Wicklow also publishes a Single Rural House Design Guide, and objective CPO 6.44 requires rural houses to be well-designed, simple, unobtrusive and informed by it.

One test for the open countryside

Objective CPO 6.41 facilitates houses in the open countryside for those with a housing need based on a demonstrable, functional social or economic need to live there, as set out in Table 6.3. Where this conflicts with other settlement strategy objectives or landscape zones, a person who qualifies under CPO 6.41 has priority unless the house would be a likely traffic or public health hazard. Urban generated housing is not permitted in the rural areas outside the rural settlements in the settlement strategy (CPO 6.36).

Table 6.3 has three strands, and you only need one:

• Housing need. A clear need for a new house, for example first-time owners, someone who has lost a previous home through legal separation, divorce or repossession, the transfer of a farm home to a family member or sale after emigration, or someone needing a specially adapted purpose-built house for a verified medical condition.
• Economic need. Your livelihood is intrinsically linked to the rural area and a home there is essential to it, and the livelihood could not be kept up while living in a nearby settlement. Farmers running a significant agricultural enterprise must show that a dwelling on the holding is essential to its operation, and the council looks at whether the holding already has houses. For other rural enterprises you must show a particular feature of the work that requires living in the rural area.
• Social need. People intrinsically linked to a rural area, including permanent native residents born and reared in the same rural area as the site; former natives returning after years away; a close relative who has inherited an agricultural holding or site; the son or daughter of a landowner where the land has been in the family for at least 10 years; people whose family home is now inside an expanded town or village boundary; and local applicants who provide care to family or work in local healthcare. Other strong social or family ties can count, case by case.

A new or alternative farm or rural enterprise, with no previous experience behind it, does not count until it has been legally and continuously running for at least 5 years before the application and is your main occupation and income. A business that is not location-dependent will not be considered. See rural housing and local need for how to assemble your evidence.

Occupancy and clusters

Under CPO 6.42, if you are granted permission you must lodge a Section 47 agreement as a burden on the property for 7 years, restricting use to you or to people who meet the CPO 6.41 criteria or others the council agrees in writing. Small settlements have their own occupancy rules (CPO 6.37 to 6.40), for example residence of 10 years in the county within 10 km for a single house in a rural cluster.

The council supports rural infill and backland houses (CPO 6.45) and houses that form a rural cluster (CPO 6.46), provided you meet the CPO 6.41 test and the design does not harm neighbours, visual amenity or rural character. Converting or reinstating abandoned buildings is supported where the original walls are substantially intact, the building has local interest and a structural survey shows it can be converted (CPO 6.43).

The development charge

Wicklow’s Development Contribution Scheme 2015, as updated on 22 July 2025, charges rural houses €3,625 per unit up to 150 square metres, plus €68 for each square metre above 150. A 200 square metre house pays €3,625 plus 50 times €68, which is €7,025. The rural rate applies to settlement levels 8 to 10 and to single local-growth houses in level 7. The scheme indexes the rates each 1 January using the CSO wholesale price index, so the amount on your permission can be higher, and the council says it is reviewing the scheme.

Extensions that do not take a rural house over 150 square metres are exempt, and the first 40 square metres of larger extensions are waived. A replacement house pays the difference between the old and new unit sizes. Retention permissions get no exemptions. The council’s page still carries the temporary waiver, but it 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 Wicklow’s charge compares, the development contributions table compares the charge for a 200 square metre house across all 31 councils.

Wastewater and site suitability

Almost every rural house treats its own wastewater, and 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.