Clare County Council accused of setting precedent for illegal siting of mobile homes

CLARE County Council doesn’t intend to pursue an enforcement notice issued about the alleged unauthorised development of a mobile home near Tuamgraney following legal advice, according to a complainant.

Duncan Young, who lived in Ballymalone, Tuamgraney, for a few years before moving to Shinrone in County Offaly has expressed his frustration spending almost five and a half years making complaints and representations to the council about the provision of appropriate accommodation for two elderly sisters.

Mr Young recalled he first alerted Clare County Council in June 2017 about the siting of a mobile home, which was approved and paid by the council’s housing section to accommodate the Moloney sisters, Breda and Margaret after their farmhouse was deemed uninhabitable.

Following countless phone calls and emails to the council over the last five years Mr Young was told: “I wish to advise you that the planning authority has conducted a review of file UD17-055 and sought legal advice on same.

“Please be advised that because of the legal recommendations and planning review of the case, the Planning Authority does not intend to pursue enforcement proceedings at this time.

“You may wish to direct any future concerns you have to the Housing Department for their attention.”

Mr Young believes the council has now set a new precedent by allowing a person to live in a mobile home without any planning permission for the last five years, which can be replicated by others in Clare.

Stressing he supports the provision of social housing, he said it is debatable whether the living conditions for the two elderly sisters have improved as there is no running water or electricity in their mobile home and it only has a one bar gas heater as two bars had to be disabled for safety reasons.

The council issued an enforcement notice on Bridget (Breda) Moloney on December 11, 2017, requesting her to “remove the two mobile homes, one caravan and all ancillary works associated with same off the site by Monday, April 30, 2018”.

She was also requested to “remove the effluent disposal holding tank, all imported gravel material and hard standing areas and internal road/tracks and replant/reseed the areas of ground occupied by the hard standing with native species rich grass land” by the same date.

One resident, who didn’t wish to be named, said he couldn’t understand how the housing section of the council proceeded to install a septic tank without digging any trial holes, doing a percolation test or commissioning engineering reports.

“The council installed a concrete septic tank costing about €600 plus vat without any percolation area. Septic tanks are no longer being deemed appropriate for new houses. Within a week this septic tank was flooded and it is still flooded. That is not good enough.

If a septic tank is not working properly, the council will make a householder put in a new waste water treatment system.

“The whole neighbourhood is talking about this. “A proper biocycle unit could cost €4,000 or €5,000. Other people who are asked by the council to install a biocyle unit could end up spending €7,000 or €8,000 when you include percolation tests, engineering reports and other costs.”

He expressed concern about possible water contamination from the septic tank, which has flooded. He claimed the housing section of the council paid for a contractor to dig out the site to install another mobile home, opened a new entrance and hard-standing area.

He said any person could now buy a second hand mobile home for €5,000 and locate it in a field in the open countryside or beside their own dwelling house and rent it out for €400 or €500 in view of what has happened in Ballymalone.

“If the council can do this in one site what is stopping any person from putting a mobile home in a field.”

He estimated the council spent about €35,000 on development works at this site to put the mobile home in place He said a person can locate a mobile home in a location if they have planning permission for a self-build one-off home up to a maximum of five years.