Planning contribution question

Hi All

Before we started building our house we paid a contribution of 4k to the council. Now we are connecting our Sewerage pipes to the village Sewerage pipe and have to pay over €1000 for connection fee and €200 to cross the road. Is this the norm after paying 4k in the beginning???
Thanks for your help.

AFAIK, the 4K you paid would have been a condition of your granted planning approval. The extra 1200eu would be for the connection into existing foul drainage. Much the same as ESB, Eircom connections etc.

I think you would have to pay it.

All new houses are liable for development contributions towards the cost of common services. Basically just for the privilege of having them there. This contribution is paid in respect of the cost to the council of providing those services and the maintenance and upgrading of them.

When you come to the actual connections you will have the "connection fees" to pay seperately. The same will apply to your water connection. This connection fee should cover the cost of the actual connection pieces together with the cost of the local council plumbers time.

You are still quite entitled to query this though at the local council offices.

Hello,

I have recently been granted planning to build a house in north county Cork and as a condition have to pay a contribution of over 7K!

Is there a breakdown of this actual figure? Can the local council provide me with the breakdown?

I propose to drill my own Well and as it is a country residence I will also be connecting to my own septic tank, as there is no possibility of connection to waste removal nearby. I will therefore not require water connection or waste removal from my local authority, is this figure high?

I know this figure relates to the size of the proposed property, but to be fair, it is well below the average size of house in the loacality.

Any help would be much appreciated.


Thanks

JJ The Harty said:

Hello,

I have recently been granted planning to build a house in north county Cork and as a condition have to pay a contribution of over 7K!

Is there a breakdown of this actual figure? Can the local council provide me with the breakdown?

I propose to drill my own Well and as it is a country residence I will also be connecting to my own septic tank, as there is no possibility of connection to waste removal nearby. I will therefore not require water connection or waste removal from my local authority, is this figure high?

I know this figure relates to the size of the proposed property, but to be fair, it is well below the average size of house in the loacality.

Any help would be much appreciated.


Thanks

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Every Local Authority has its own development contribution scheme with varying levels of contributions and various methods for determining the actual rates.

In Donegal the development contributions are itemised on the planning permission but that may not necessarily be the case in Cork. At present the rate here for rural houses varies from approx. €2800 up to approx. €5800 depending on the house size. Reductions are given when you have your own water supply. The level of contributions here however are one of the lowest in the country and I recall seeing other people posting of how they were charged well in excess of €15,000

What you can do is look up the details on the Council's website or alternatively give them a ring and ask for a breakdown. There is always a possibility that they have made a mistake.

Hmmm..... I spoke to my Architect also, he stated that the amount quoted was indeed very high. Apparently for the first 40 sq. feet the council do not charge anything!

I will ask the local council for a complete break down and reply later (as soon as the council replies) with the results.

Oh also this is charged with interest at 8% per month per annum from the permission grant date! I thought this was a bit strange as I have no intention of building on the site until next March/April as I dont want to clog up the road with mud and lorries etc.

JJ The Harty said:

Oh also this is charged with interest at 8% per month per annum from the permission grant date! I thought this was a bit strange as I have no intention of building on the site until next March/April as I dont want to clog up the road with mud and lorries etc.

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HP terms wouldnt even be a quarter of that. I think you are misreading that condition. As far as I know the contributions are index linked with the Wholesale Price Index for Building and Construction published by the Central Statistics Office. This kicks in on march 1st each year and is currently running around 6%.

Again I would advise that you check this out with the local planning office.

hey petermack
we sent in a rebate form a few months back and got a cheque for over 2k back on the 4300k we paid!!
Each time i rang the council about whether we were entitled to a rebate or not they couldnt give me an answer!! the girl in the office hadnt a clue what i was on about!! Then out of the blue this cheque arrived. So im not complaining. All you do is get a rebate form, fill it in and get your solicitor to sign it. Also on the contribution we paid (4,300) the receipt had a breakdown of what it was for.

hope that helps!!