List of unfinished unoccupied or estates ready by 'mid-year'

A NATIONAL list of all unfinished or unoccupied housing estates will be completed “in the middle of the year”, according to Minister of State for the Environment Ciarán Cuffe.

The Minister told the Dáil that he had recently received the report of a pilot exercise with Laois County Council to establish the number and type of unfinished houses and estates within the authority’s remit and the national list was expected by mid-year.

Pressed by Terence Flanagan (FG, Dublin North East) about the exact date for the completion of the list, Mr Cuffe declined to be drawn, but claimed that Fine Gael councillors were still putting forward “mad ideas for rezoning”.

“The goose that laid the golden egg is long gone and it would be constructive” if Fine Gael thought carefully “about sustainable planning rather than rezoning land as the solution to our economic woes”.

During environment questions, Mr Cuffe said the Laois report classified the different types of unfinished estates. They included those with incomplete paths, lighting, parks and green spaces, as well as those where some houses were completed but others still under construction. Also categorised were estates with half-built units.

The Minister wrote to city and county managers a fortnight ago seeking their help in completing the survey, he said. “It’s early days but there are themes of public safety, completion and management of essential infrastructures, amenities and the long-term future and resolution of sites.”

Mr Flanagan said many homeowners had paid over the odds and were in negative equity. “They have been badly let down by the system.”

He asked about an exact date for the completion of the survey, and what lessons had been learned to ensure the same situation “does not recur in five or 10 years’ time”.

Mr Cuffe said they had to put in a “proper planning system”, and he was “flabbergasted to see that in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fine Gael councillors were to the fore in promoting even more rezonings. Have they learned nothing from the mistakes made?”

The Minister added that Fine Gael councillors should “work closely with the management teams and the professional planners, and listen carefully to their advice”.

Mr Flanagan asked what hope the Minister could give homeowners where developers were bankrupt.

Mr Cuffe said: “Where several homes are occupied in an estate but they are largely unfinished, and there might be a litter problem and/or a sewage problem, I believe that county and city managers will do all that they can to improve the quality of life in those areas. There is no pot of money for completion, of which I am aware. In many cases there are bonds that have been put up by the developer.”

Irish Times

www.buckplanning.ie

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

Council may have to pay for ‘abandoned’ estates

CORK CITY could be facing a massive bill for finishing dozens of housing estates which have been abandoned by developers.

The news emerged yesterday after city councillors were told that a bond lodged by a developer almost a decade ago on an estate which has still not been finished, will not cover the cost of the outstanding work.

The council is planning to do the work on the Chapel Gate and Kempton estates in Ballyvolane before it takes it in charge.

But the work will cost the city at least €15,000.

City manager Joe Gavin confirmed that legal proceedings are under way to lodge a formal claim on a €38,092 surety bond lodged by the developers O’Mahoney Developments Ltd. The index-linked bond expires at the end of May.

But despite protracted negotiations between council officials and the developers, the work needed to finish the estate to a standard which would allow the council take it over, has not been done.

The cost of the outstanding works has been estimated at €53,000, Mr Gavin said.