CORK County Council does not impose restrictions on those who have chimneys included in their planning permission application, a recent meeting heard.
The issue arose following a motion raised by North Cork-based Cllr William O’Leary (Ind).
He said the removal of fossil fuel heating from new builds, existing Council stock and future developments will cause undue hardship on households in the event of power outages due to adverse weather events like the recent Storm Éowyn.
‘We’ve seen the hassle thousands of people had in the West of Ireland over the past few weeks due to Storm Éowyn. It goes to show that the houses were freezing because they are either new houses that are retrofitted and there is no source of heating when the electricity goes. You also have A-listed houses without fossil fuel heating,’ said Cllr O’Leary.
‘It’s the older housing stock I’m most worried about that use fossil fuel as the main source of heating. In a couple of years’ time we will have inspectors calling to see if they are using fossil fuels.’
Cllr O’Leary said it’s time to move back to a ‘bit of common sense’ here.
‘There has to be a level of leniency shown to people who want to maintain the system of their heating in their homes. There is no other alternative out there.’
Cllr Peter O’Donoghue (Ind) seconded the motion and said they are now seeing the Climate Action Bill of 2021 coming into play, legislation which he described as ‘damaging’.
‘It wants all fossil fuel heating eliminated from homes and that was a policy of madness and insanity. We’ve seen it now over the past few weeks with thousands of homes without power and totally reliant on electricity,’ said Cllr O’Donoghue, who says he has a stove in his home, in the event of power outages.
He said Cork County Council’s policy of blocking up chimneys and eliminating stoves in their housing stock is taking away any future heating options for future tenants.
‘This has to stop. It’s an absolute waste of money and we are spending millions on this.’
County mayor Cllr Joe Carroll (FF) said the most devastating part of the recent storm was seeing young people loading up their cars and leaving their brand-new homes to move back in with their parents because they had no heating.
Cllr Gerard Murphy (FF) queried if there are current restrictions on planning permission applications on using chimneys or fossil fuel heating systems.
‘Has anyone been turned down because their design had a chimney or fossil fuel? And is there anything to prevent someone from building a home that isn’t A-rated?’ he asked.
He added that fossil fuel isn’t a renewable source and they will eventually run out it.
West Cork divisional manager Michael Lynch said there are no restrictions regarding the provisions of chimneys in planning permissions and Cork County Council wouldn’t be taking a negative view of that. He also added that being A-rated is not a requirement of the Council, either, when it comes to a planning application.
However, Cllr O’Leary said there is a negative viewpoint on the use of these and until there is another alternative then they have to accept it as a way of doing thing for now.
Councillors agreed to write to the Minister for Housing Planning and Local Planning on the issue.
