Saturday, 2 June 2007

Developer may face legal action over unfinished estate Town Council seek legal advice over Cré na Mara

Arklow Town Council is taking legal advice to resolve a litany of problems at Arklow's Cré na Mara housing estate.

The council has prepared a 10-point list of areas where the three-year-old estate does not meet the conditions of its original planning permission, including landscaping, road surfacing and traffic signage.

Town clerk Des Nicholls said the next step was possible action against the developer, Liam Mellon Construction, in the District Court.

The council issued an enforcement notice and the matter has now been referred to our law agents,' he stated.

Cré na Mara residents claim that they have been waiting for years for the estate to be finished and received no response to a recent invitation to meet with the builder to discuss the problems.

But Mr Mellon claimed this week that all outstanding work at the estate would be done by the end of June.

It takes so long to get the contractors,' Mr Mellon explained.

Residents' Association committee member Geraldine Hogan said problems included odours from sewerage pipes through the estate, poor road surfacing, no street signage and no landscaping.

Ms Hogan said that last year she was forced to move her children from the front bedroom of the house to a rear bedroom because the smell from the sewer had got so bad.

The 45 houses on the three-year-old estate are worth around €350,000 each.

We haven't even got a name sign for the estate yet,' Ms Hogan said.

Mr Mellon said he was not aware of any recent requests from the residents to meet with him.

We're in there on Monday,' he said this week.

There will be shrubs, tree planting, stop signs and ramps going in.'

Last year we went in and stood on our head for them getting seeding done before their open day,' Mr Mellon said.

He blamed weather, contractor availability and other factors for the delays in finishing off the estate.

Wicklow People

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