Councillors vote down social housing blueprint
Conamara councillors have voted to defer a masterplan to provide 100 social houses in Moycullen – despite being warned it would be a retrograde step at a time when the demand was at an all-time high.
Cllr Noel Thomas, who proposed the motion to defer the Galway County Council masterplan first mooted almost two years ago, stressed that he recognised the demand for social housing – but he disagreed with ‘lumping’ them all together instead of providing mixed developments of private and affordable housing.
Cllr Thomas said he had spent a long time researching and getting answers from council officials on the matter and he wasn’t going to back down now, adding that in light of other recent announcements on other council housing schemes for the area, going ahead with the masterplan would not be advisable until the local area plan was completed.
That scheme was to be completed within the next decade but the Council has since bought a site on the N59 on the Galway side of the village with the intention of providing 49 social units.
That planning application made originally by a private developer was turned down by the Council but granted on appeal to An Bord Pleanala.
There are further plans to build a social housing estate on the Coillte site on the Church Road, another 39 adjacent to Uilinn closer to the village as well as a housing agency’s plan to build 15 units opposite Sweeney’s Shop and Fuel Station west of the village.
“I am not against social housing but I don’t believe in creating all social housing estates. Have we not learned from our mistakes in the past?” he asked.
“People have already expressed their concerns over these plans. They are going mad that they are being put into big lumps. This is a village with no social housing and now there are plans to provide over 200.
“I don’t understand why it can’t be a mixed development and I believe that the Coillte site should be allocated for affordable housing to help young people to buy their own home instead of putting them into social housing.”
Senior Executive Engineer Rachel Lowe told the meeting she had no housing need figures for Moycullen (two years ago it was over 200) but that there were 3,200 people on the housing list county wide and, for 150 of them, Conamara South was their area of choice.
She told the Conamara Municipal District meeting in Oughterard that there were 14 units under construction in Carraroe, 18 in Ros a Mhíl, eleven in Letterfrack and 13 in Anach Mheáin in Beal a Daingean, with another 26 units being provided in the former St Joseph’s School and Laundry in Clifden.
She also listed the 39 units coming on stream in Moycullen as well as a number of other units in the former post office in Inverin giving the meeting a flavour of how the Government’s commitment to investing in housing under Rebuilding Ireland was going on.
Cllr Thomas said he appreciated that there was ‘a big demand for social housing in Moycullen at the moment’ but hoped the Council would use ‘some common sense and try to keep people in their own area though that’s not always possible’.
He said he thought the plans to build over 200 social housing units in Moycullen was ‘out of proportion’ and that the Council was missing out on an opportunity to provide some badly needed community facilities for the village, reminding the meeting that the primary school was already full to capacity.
“That school is using prefabs with plastic on the roofs to stop water leaking in and there isn’t even a proper bus service. We need to step back.
“It’s ridiculous to ram these all together as it won’t work. We should be taking baby steps to see how it’s managed before moving onto the next step. I don’t think we should be developing that site on the Spiddal Road for 100 units (the masterplan) until the local area plan is completed.”
He said the new poor were the working class who were trying to keep on top of bills and that it would be more in line to provide an affordable housing scheme.
Ms Lowe warned councillors it would be a “big step back” to defer the masterplan at a time when there was a national debate on the need for social housing. She further asked that the vote be deferred to October 4.
Cllr Séamus Walsh seconded Cllr Thomas’ motion – and it was carried, with Cllr Alastair McKinstry voting against it.