Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting of the Municipal District of Bray Held in the Council Chamber, Town Hall, Bray on Tuesday 1St October 2019 at 7 P.M
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting of the Municipal District of Bray held in the Council Chamber, Town Hall, Bray on Tuesday 1st October 2019 at 7 p.m. Present: Councillor Joe Behan Councillor Rory O’Connor Councillor Grace McManus Councillor Dermot O’Brien Councillor Anne Ferris Councillor Steven Matthews Councillor Aoife Flynn Kennedy Councillor Melanie Corrigan Also present: Mr. Thomas Murphy, Director of Services Mr. David Forde, District Administrator Mr. Liam Bourke, District Engineer Ms. Triona Irving, Administrative Officer Cllr. Grace McManus asked for the Members to remember the late Allison Connolly. The Members held a minutes silence in her memory. 1. Confirmation of Minutes of Ordinary Meeting dated 3rd September 2019 Councillor Anne Ferris proposed the confirmation of the minutes of the meeting held on the 3rd September 2019, Councillor Aoife Flynn Kennedy seconded the proposal. 2. To receive a presentation from RESPOND Approved Housing Body and their Architects in respect of their pre Part 8 Proposals for 2 sites in Bray at Kilbride Lodge and Sutton Villas Michael Hammond from Respond Approved Housing Body and Damien Foley from MRL Architects addressed the meeting to present the proposed pre Part 8 Proposals for 2 sites in Bray at Kilbride Lodge and Sutton Villas. The Members were informed that the proposal included 18 apartments for Kilbride Lodge and 3 apartments for Sutton Villas. Mr Foley informed the Members that there was a history of issues at the Kilbride Lodge site which included anti social behaviour, dumping and vermin infestation. There was a mixed reaction from the Members to the proposed developments, some welcomed the developments and the fact that they provide much needed social housing units in Bray. They also welcomed the involvement of Respond Approved Housing Body in the project as they felt that they have an impressive track record in similar projects. The Members raised the following points: The proposed number of units was too excessive for the sites involved. 1 The developments would completely dwarf everything around it. Concern was also raised as to who would maintain the green areas of the development once the project was completed. The architects confirmed that there would be no CPO of the gardens in Glenthorn to facilitate the proposed development. After listening to the views of the Members Mr Foley from MRL architects said that he is willing to work with the Members to try and resolve the issues and reservations they raised. The Members asked for a hard copy of the presentation to be circulated to them by email. 3. To consider the Housing Report Kilbride Lane Construction of the 42 No. social housing units at Kilbride Lane in Bray is progressing well. The carpenters have installed the roof to 5 units in the front of the site facing Kilbride Lane and 2 units at Cloverhill. Blocklayers are currently working on bringing the remaining units up to roof level. The two bungalow house types at the end of Cloverhill estate have the first fix of M & E installed and plastering is to start after the windows are installed. The first delivery of windows and doors occurred mid August. The contractor is concentrating their efforts to finish the bungalow units to Cloverhill and the front units first and then work their way back up through the site. The project delay has been reduced down to 4.5 weeks behind the programme. The contractor is currently reducing the programme delay by 1 week per month. They plan to mitigate the delay further by adding additional crews of blocklayers and expect to be back on programme by December. At present, the project is still due to finish at the agreed completion date. Groundworkers are installing manholes and the main storm drain down through the site at present. Through the ER, Wicklow County Council has been pursuing the contractor to ensure safe egress from the site onto Kilbride Lane along with daily inspection of road conditions to ensure the road remains clear of mud and debris. Ard na Greine Wicklow County Council submitted a Part 8 Planning Application in respect of a 31 unit housing development at lands north of Ard na Greine for consideration by the Councillors at the July Bray Municipal District meeting. The scheme was approved by the elected members The proposed housing scheme will comprise of 21 no. 2 bed houses (2 storey) and 10 no. 3 bed houses (2 storey). Kilmantain Place Following the termination of the previous construction contract for the 4 unit housing development, the project has successfully been retendered. It is likely that works will commence on site September/October 2019. 2 Jameson Heights, Kilmacanoge Construction of 20 social houses. The contractor started work on site on 27/05/19. The site has been cleared, harris fencing has been erected around the perimeter of the site and site hoarding is currently being built by a crew of carpenters. The site compound has still to be fully established but welfare facilities are on site. Ground workers have reduced levels for all houses and are currently installing the main line foul and surface water drainage through the site. Roads, attenuation tank and piling will be starting in the coming weeks. Works are currently behind schedule. Updated programme has been requested from Contractor. The Members raised the following housing related questions with the Housing Director of Services, Mr. Joe Lane. Does Wicklow County Council ever offer "partial housing support"? If so how does this policy work? When Wicklow County Council is allocating emergency accommodation it is for the applicants and their children to temporarily solve their accommodation needs pending sourcing of alternative accommodation. Wicklow County Council does not operate a policy of ‘part time’ accommodation provision. However, sometimes demand exceeds availability and the Council has to manage its resources and facilitate as many homeless families as possible. This is based on demand for provision at the time and on compliance with the terms and conditions of the emergency provision. It has also been the case where applicants are happy to stay with family members part time and avail of emergency accommodation during the week to facilitate schools, appointments etc. Like ‘respite’ where the family is in overcrowded situations and partime provision eases the stresses on the extended family. As such during these periods, each case is assessed on its individual merits. Why don't Wicklow partake in the Buy and Renew and Repair and Lease Schemes currently? Are there plans to move to utilize these schemes? We have advertised the repair and lease scheme widely since it started, and have sent out details following enquiries. We have received 9 applications for the scheme to date, but none of them have progressed. In most cases the work needed exceeded the limit of €40,000. In other cases the properties were not suitable or were not in suitable locations. We are always open to the buy and renew scheme, and have considered a number of properties. Most of these did not qualify in that the cost of the property plus the value of works exceeded the market value. Has Wicklow County Council expressed interest in moving toward Choice Based Letting? If so, where along the process are we? Is there an estimated date for a changeover to the scheme? Provision for Choice based letting is included in Wicklow County Councils scheme of priorities. 3 To date the allocation process has had sufficient demand from the points system and preference for areas as indicated by applicants. Traditionally choice based letting has been viewed where areas were difficult to allocate (though not exclusively). Are there current plans to use Council land for social and affordable housing? This questions needs to be split into social and affordable. Social In 2015/2016/2017 Housing staff undertook a significant “trawl” of lands in the ownership of the local authority that may be considered suitable for social housing and housing developments. Lands were included that Were in the ownership of the local authority Zoned residential Were identified in previous schemes Were identified by municipal staff At the time (2015) there was an emphasis on infill sites (by the Department) which meant that smaller brownfield sites were being actively considered for social housing by the authority. Progression of schemes, including viability of potential locations, were discussed at municipal level, where local knowledge formed the priority afforded to schemes 2018-2021. The next phase of housing (Post 2021) will continue to evaluate these lands. Affordable Housing Nine land holdings were assessed in 2018 under Circular Aph2 This Circular /required local authority to undertake a financial/economic assessment of sites that may be considered suitable for affordable housing sites. This assessment assessed whether the provision of affordable homes is economically viable on the site in question, and that there is a broader housing affordability issue within a LA area. 9 properties were assessed. Affordability is dependent on a number of issues including the provision of infrastructure not being charged to the scheme, and low land costs. Wicklow County Council received a provisional grant of €601,640 under the Serviced Sites Fund. This was based on a grant application of €676,000 (with €74,360 local authority co-funding) at its site in Rathnew. The Serviced Sites Fund is a mechanism to supplement infrastructure expenditure that may otherwise act as a disincentive towards affordable housing.