Sale of site to developer means wait for housing could be five years

AN AGONISING wait for a new home will continue beyond 2006 for a number of Co Waterford families promised local authority housing.

Families on a waiting list in Dungarvan were told they would have new homes by next autumn.

But one of the proposed sites for new local authority housing has been put on the market.

Twelve acres of prime land acquired by the town council three years ago to meet their housing needs will be sold to a private developer.

The land will be offered for sale at auction soon.

Local Sinn Féin councillor Brendan Mansfield called it a “prime example of social elitism”.

He said: “It means that families who got written promises of a new home by next September will now have an even longer wait.”

The land on the Clonea Road in Abbeyside, Dungarvan, was mooted as the answer to the town’s growing housing needs. But at a meeting of the town council on Tuesday night, councillors voted by six to three in favour of its sale.

Local authority homes will instead be spread over a number of areas through contributions which will be levied on any developer of the site. Cllr Mansfield says it could be five years before these come on stream.

“I’ve been told that the earliest social and affordable houses will be provided by whoever develops this site will be five years time. While people on the housing list may well be accommodated elsewhere, five years is a long time to be waiting.

“These people have had written confirmation that they would have houses by September 2006. I respect democracy but I’m going to campaign and investigate why this policy change came. I think it’s another example of big business winning out again,” he said.

While the town mayor, Fiachra Ó Ceilleachair, also questioned the rationale behind selling off prime council land to a developer, others insisted it was the best way forward for the local authority.