Call to accommodate housing list applicants in eco village
Cllr Jim Casey (FF) made the call at a meeting this week after it was revealed North Tipperary’s rural housing list has increased again and currently stands at 632 applicants.
Mr Casey said there was a need for 26 houses in Cloughjordan but no land was available in the area.
He suggested the council should talk to the developers of the eco village project about the possibility of accommodating local housing applicants in the development.
Mr Casey recalled, how in 2006, the eco village developers offered the council 10 sites for social housing under Part V of the Local Government (Planning & Development) Act, only for the council to seek a financial contribution instead of the land.
He said the council should seek a Government allocation to purchase sites in the eco village in a move that would further unite the village people with the existing community in Cloughjordan.
However, senior executive officer, Sharon Kennedy, ruled out the proposal, as she said the council simply did not have the money to buy sites or houses in any great number.
She said the council has sought an allocation to buy houses but Government policy remains in favour of leasing.
“It is down to funding,” Ms Kennedy said of the eco village suggestion. “If we get funding then we’ll look at it, but it’s not an option for us right now.”
Ms Kennedy agreed with Mr Casey there are a lot of unoccupied houses in the Cloughjordan area but she said the authority simply does not currently have a budget for acquiring houses.
The eco village, the first development of its kind in Ireland, includes 114 low-energy houses, a 36-bed eco hostel, a solar and wood-powered community heating system, and a 50-acre organic vegetable allotment. It has been under construction courtesy of Sustainable Projects Ireland since 2007.
Around three-quarters of the village’s residential sites have been sold and several families are already living at the site.
It is expected the eco village will be home to 200 people.
