Council concern over unfinished housing estates

THE thorny issue of unfinished housing estates stirred a lengthy debate among Clare County Councillors last Friday afternoon.

Councillor Tom McNamara put forward a motion asking that the council call on Phil Hogan to ringfence funds collected from residents in certain estates, to bring those same estates up to “an acceptable standard to be taken in charge by the council”.

Fine Gael Councillor Joe Arkins said he was “particularly concerned” about occasions where estates have been abandoned by developers, for whatever reason and where the majority of occupants have requested that the local authority take the estate in charges.

He said he was worried that the local authority could be putting itself at risk. “The council could very well be exposed to risk in a case where it was requested to take an estate in charge if it didn’t take it in charge.”

The Fine Gael councillor queried if, in the case of a contractor that had gone into liquidation or had abandoned a development and where a relatively small level of expense involved in taking over the estate, a court could find that the council was negligent.

Councillor Arkins referred to an estate in Crusheen, which he said was 99.99% complete but which hasn’t been taken in charge and in which there is no functioning public lighting.

He also said it would be very hard to argue in court that the council was not in a position to take over an estate, if the financial implications are very minor.

Fianna Fáil Councillor Michael Kelly said those in the Clondrinagh estate in Crusheen are being left in a no man’s land at the moment, with no lighting.

The Labour party’s Pascal Fitzgerald said the council has responsibilities in the matter and that if it granted planning permission, it should follow up to make sure the terms are complied with. “Someone has to take it by the scruff of the neck and whoever granted planning permission should be responsible.”

Councillor Pat Hayes said there are 63 unfinished estates in Clare but only four are being exempted from property tax.

He said the council granted planning and ultimately it should find a way to help people who bought at the height of the boom. Councillor Hayes also said there needs to be a change of approach at national level.
Councillor Oliver Garry asked if the bonding system in place is ever adequate for the purpose it was designed for.

Introducing his motion, Councillor McNamara said there is “no way the council can do that type of work so the money will have to come from somewhere”.

He said the money raised over a few years would be enough to bring estates up to the type of standard needed.

County Solicitor John Shaw gave a comprehensive report on the issue. With regard to the potential liability of the local authority following injuries, he stated, “The risk of the council being held liable for any injury or accident will come down to the circumstances of the particular injury or accident in question and ultimately liability will be dependent on factors of causation. It is unlikely the council would be the primary target until such time as the estate has been taken in charge. In a situation where the developer has become bankrupt or gone into liquidation and there is no insurance in place then it is possible the local authority would be targeted in any claim arising and it is a remote possibility that liability for an accident could be attributable to the local authority in a section 180 (2) situation where the planning authority was obliged to take the estate in charge but failed to do so. At this stage, however, a number of factors come into play including causation, misfeance/nonfeasance, and so on, all of which have to be addressed on a case-by-case basis and cannot be properly discussed in hypothetical situations.”

Director of services Ger Dollard said efforts are made to ensure the council is not liable, as far as possible.
With regard to bonds, he said €2.5 million worth is held by IBRC and a “serious question mark” hangs over those.

Mr Dollard also said that while there are many estates in the county where people would like to see improvements, the vast majority of them don’t meet the criteria for exemption from the property tax.

With regard to Councillor McNamara’s proposal, county manager Tom Coughlan said 80% of funding raised from the property tax is due to go towards local services and that if it is spent on improving estates, the effect will be felt elsewhere. “If there is a decision to put a lot of it towards unfinished estates, something has to suffer. I want to be very clear on that.”

He said there is no discretion regarding where the bulk of the money will go, while he also warned that the situation could become worse, given the €2.5m worth of bonds with IBRC.

Ultimately, the motion was changed to one which requested funding from central Government for the completion of unfinished estates “as this council is not in a position to carry out the works necessary”.