Cork council continuing to increase output of new houses

Cork County Council is continuing to increase the output of new houses with predictions for completions for this year at 744 rising to 897 in 2020.

Seamus de Faoite, a senior official in the council's housing directorate, said there is a high level of activity in his department at present and they are continuing to ramp up construction from 2017 when 536 units were given out to people on the waiting list.

Mr de Faoite delivered an extensive report on housing at a meeting of the council's Northern Division. He said the houses completed came from a mix of construction by the local authority and through the purchase or leasing of others built by private developers.

The council has also commenced the acquisition of properties through a number of CPOs (Compulsory Purchase Orders), although he admitted that this process can be slow primarily because a lot of records have to be trawled through in some cases to find title deeds.

Mr de Faoite said there are currently 60 vacant local authority homes in the North Cork region.

Of those 43 are long term voids and 17 casual vacancies. Work is ongoing to refurbish a number of them and 42 new tenants have been selected to move into them when the work is completed.

Meanwhile, he revealed that a survey of all 8,000 of the county's local authority houses is ongoing for energy efficiency.

Councillors welcomed the increase in housing activity, many thanking Mr de Faoite and his staff for the huge amount of work they are putting into projects.

However, some were critical of delays in refurbishing vacant council accommodation in the face of ever increasing numbers on the housing waiting list.

Cllr Frank O'Flynn said he is very annoyed that four council flats in the Beechfield estate in Fermoy have lain unoccupied for three years.

"We're crying out for flats for single people, it's not good enough," he said. Mr de Faoite said tenders are being assessed and it is anticipated that work will get underway on those flats in January.

Cllr John Paul O'Shea has a similar complaint.

"Four one-bed apartments have been lying idle for four years at St Joseph's Gardens in Millstreet. This is quite worrying," he said.

Cllr O'Shea also expressed concern about the low level of council house building in rural villages.

"A number of villages could do with some small housing development. It ensures the viability of villages as regards school populations and sporting organisations surviving," Cllr O'Shea said.

Mr de Faoite said the council's online Choice Based Letting - which advertises vacant houses - clearly shows where high demand lies and it is not in smaller villages.

He said CBL figures for the North Cork region show that the biggest demand for houses is in the large towns in the region such as Mallow, Fermoy, Kanturk and Mitchelstown.

"The figures are important for us because they highlight where we need to be concentrating development," Mr De Faoite said.

However, he said he would take onboard what Cllr O'Shea was saying about smaller villages.

Mr de Faoite told Cllr O'Shea that there are plans to build two houses in the village of Kilbrin, and the council was trying to acquire some houses in Millstreet and would look at possible development in Liscarroll.