It is relatively common these days for people to design and build their own homes, but few would be brave enough to scheme and set up an entire village.

Such a dream took a step closer to reality last week with news that The Village, a co-operative of ecologists, has secured planning permission for a settlement of more than 130 new homes at Cloughjordan in Co Tipperary, just weeks after buying a 67-acre site there.

The group’s members are stunned by their success, after six years of obstacles, ranging from uncooperative local authorities to failed attempts to acquire land.

Johnny Connolly, a Dublin-based criminologist and one of the original members, still hasn’t fully come to terms with it. Now a spokesman for the group of 46 people, he was among those who gathered in 1999 to discuss the dream of a sustainable community based on environmentalist principles.

“I guess I and some of the long-standing members are still in shock,” he says. “It shows that ordinary people can achieve something on this scale if they put their minds to it.”

Gregg Allen, also from Dublin, is at pains to point out that The Village is not a “hippie-dippy” commune, but a group of mainly — but not exclusively — city professionals with a realistic outlook.

“The difference is that most of us reject what has become the pattern for modern-day living, with its lack of community, planning and its disregard for the environment,” he says. “We believed it could be done another way — through sustainable development.”

All those involved in the scheme must become company members.

So far, 46 households are involved and have each paid a non-refundable fee of €6,000. The company has used the money to buy the land, which will be divided into 136 plots.

The fee entitles members to buy plots in the scheme on which to have a home built for them or to build their own, within the restrictions imposed by the company. “There are two conditions,” says Allen. “You must sign up to the ecological charter and become a member of the management company. The latter is a common set-up in most modern residential schemes, whereby residents contribute an annual fee for maintenance of communal facilities.”

The ecological charter issues controls on how the homes are constructed and run, with 100% recycling the aim.

Roughly one-third of the land will be taken up by the houses and apartments built for the company. There will be some homes with working areas provided on the ground floor for those intending to carry on a trade.

Plots are also available for those who want to build their own homes. Time limits will be laid down for the construction of self-build homes.

The final third of the land will be either allocated as allotments or developed as a sustainable area of “productive woodlands”.

Allen is planning to build “a three-bed, non-box-shaped” house of cob and timber. Connolly intends to use straw bale, timber and a cob outer coat.

The idea of a sustainable village had to change over time. The initial plan of a self-starting community in isolation had to be shelved in favour of a plan that could benefit other old, ailing villages throughout Ireland.

While some locals may have been suspicious initially of the Village plans, the organisers believe their openness has impressed people. The group has maintained an office on

Cloughjordan’s main street and held public meetings to inform locals of their intentions and progress.

Allen describes Cloughjordan as an independently minded village that, for various reasons, seems to have been bypassed by the Celtic tiger.

“It is a market town between bigger towns,” he says. “It should have been in an ideal location to do well, but planning policy has favoured further development of the larger towns at its expense.”

The population of Cloughjordan has been in steady decline over the past 60 years. It was even in danger of losing its rail link, a vital life support for the town.

Now the future of the Village plan and Cloughjordan have become intertwined. Numerous town planners and local authorities will be monitoring the results.

The group plans to engage a project manager and begin the tender process for the infrastructure. It hopes that within three years The Village will be thriving.

www.thevillage.ie

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