Tag Archives: social housing

AN APPEAL has been lodged against the Council’s refusal of a small-scale social housing development, proposed for a site on the Limerick Road in Ennis.  The plans for five additional homes at Hogan’s Place, which would be operated by the Cluid Housing Association, were lodged in October by Kilshane Investments Limited.  Local authority planners turned down the plans in November, stating that the homes would encroach into existing public open space and would contravene conditions set out when permission was granted for the existing homes at the site. They said the additional housing would “seriously injure the amenities of the dwellings” there. Planners also found that the site is located in an area of high flooding risk, where homes are classed as “high vulnerable developments”. They said that notwithstanding a Flood Risk Assessment submitted with the planning application, the proposed development would be contrary to government guidelines on flood management.  An appeal to An Bord Pleanála has just been lodged …

CONSTRUCTION on a new social housing development in an east Clare town is due to start before the end of the year, a Senior Engineer has confirmed.  Plans for 18 homes on a site at the Feakle Road in Ballyminoge, Scariff, were lodged by Clare County Council in November 2021. Last July, the authority was granted just over €6.09 million for the development, which is to be named ‘Droichead Nua’.  Last week’s meeting of the Killaloe Municipal District heard an update on the scheme, following a question from Councillor Joe Cooney. The Fine Gael member welcomed a progress report from Senior Executive Engineer in Housing, Niamh Madden. He noted that there are 140 people on the housing waiting list in the area, and expressed the hope some might be looked after with the new development.  Ms Madden’s response outlined that funding from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH) had been granted “with an all-in budget of €6,093,289 …

MOVING into her new home in Ennis’ newly launched Co-operative Housing Ireland Development has been an emotional “restart” for Amanda Shannon and her teenage son. Amanda sadly lost her husband five years ago, telling The Clare Champion her new home has become “healing” for her. “I think the attachment to the old house was too much so this new house has big, big meaning for me. It’s a restart.” A qualified teacher Amanda has been unable to work recently due to health issues including long Covid. Before moving into the Moínear development in Ros Leamhain she had been renting for eight years. She describes renting as “a challenge”, with her family experiencing issues such as damp and mould. “It would even be summer time and I’d have to wash the walls with a mask on because I didn’t want to breath in the mould. “During lockdown it was difficult to access care and we were in the house all the …

AN APPROVED housing body seeking to build 11 social houses and two apartments in Mountshannon has been sent back to the drawing board by Clare County Council. In March, Inis Housing Association lodged plans for housing of varying size and design, and a single building containing the two apartments. The site, which is three quarters of a hectare, is close to St Caimin’s Church of Ireland on Main Street. After an initial assessment of the plans, the Council has now requested Further Information on nine aspects of the project.  Planners said that “having regard to the scale, extent and location of the proposed development, it is possible that subsurface archaeological remains could be encountered during the construction phase” of the works.  They have asked that Inis Housing Association to commission an Archaeological Impact Assessment (AIA) involving test excavations. The request follows a submission on the project from The Development Applications Unit (DAU) of the Department of Housing, Heritage and Local …

FLOODING concerns have been raised in Tulla by several residents close to the site of a new social housing development. Michael O’Callaghan is among a number of people who contacted The Champion on the issue. He farms 38 acres of land beside the Council’s site and said that since the end of last year, up to 20 acres have been subject to unprecedented flooding. That is despite the fact that rainfall levels have been low. He said that local knowledge suggests that culverts which normally drain the lands close the to the site have been blocked, possibly during excavation works on the Council’s site. “Water from the farm flows underground, beneath the social housing site,” he said. “It’s the view locally, based on our knowledge of the area, that culverts have been blocked. The natural flow of water from the land is not continuing in the way that it used to.” Mr O’Callaghan said the flooding situation worsened towards the …

CLARE County Council is proposing to build 18 new homes in Scariff and a Part 8 application is now at the public consultation phase. The apartment development at Ballyminogue, Waterpark, will be situated along the Scariff Stream and have a mix of one, two and three-bed units. A total of 27 car parking spaces are also proposed. The authority’s application states that, “An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) screening determination has been made and concludes that there is no real likelihood of significant effects on the environment arising from the proposed development.” In respect of the risk of flooding, a detailed report has also been compiled. It characterises the flood risk as minimal. “The proposed development model shows the proposed development will have no impacts on the flood levels”, it states. The document identifies “residual risks”, including climate change and potential blockage of the downstream Scariff River Ridge and any boundary treatment fending. “In conclusion,” it states, “the mitigation measures put …

THE council’s director of housing has issued an assurance that turning around vacant local authority housing is a top priority.  Anne Haugh made her comments following concerns raised by Councillor Pat Burke over two properties in Whitegate that have been vacant for up to 12 months. Councillor Burke told the November meeting of the Killaloe Municipal District that frustration over the delay in getting new tenants in, in the middle of a housing crisis, had prompted him to table the motion.  “We are all aware of the housing crisis,” he said. “It seems the process is so slow if a house can remain vacant for 12 months. I understand that there are energy retrofit schemes and that type of thing undertaken, but 12 months to leave a house vacant when we’re in a housing crisis drove me to put down the motion. This is not particularly anyone’s fault, but I’m wondering if the delay is down to funding or the …

A DEVELOPMENT of 40 social homes in Ennis has been commended by the Housing Minister as an example of what local authorities will be supported to deliver under the new Housing for All plan. Just days ahead of the much anticipated housing policy document, Minister Darragh O’Brien visited the estate at Ashline. He described it as exactly the kind of development that he will be asking county councils to deliver. “We will make a big dent in the housing crisis,” he told the Clare media. “We can do as we have the wherewithal, we have the expertise, we have the knowledge and the capability in this country, and indeed, in this government to make real strides on the housing situation, it is doable. “I want to make sure that the normal working families and individuals who feel that they can’t buy a home are going to be able to. And that’s why the first thing I did was to champion …