Council plan to bus Laytown residents to view 'showpiece' houses
A Meath County Council official has offered to bus residents of a Laytown housing estate - who have doubts about a planned council refurbishment scheme - to Kells and Navan to view "showpiece" estates where the council has already carried out intensive refurbishment. Senior county council engineer Joe Fahy told councillors of the Slane Electoral Area that the council would pay for the transport for residents from Alverno Heights in Laytown to Headfort Grove in Kells and Townspark in Navan so that they can see for themselves the success of these refurbishment schemes. He said the council was very proud of the quality of work it had carried out in the two towns. The council had planned a regeneration scheme in Alverno Heights and Alverno Court where there are 115 houses. However, the scheme has met with objections from some residents of Alverno Heights. It will now proceed with refurbishment of 40 houses in the smaller Alverno Court in phase one of the scheme and hopes to proceed to phase two at Alverno Heights. The Meath Chronicle learned that, at a meeting between council officials and residents last Wednesday, the Alverno Court plans had met with strong approval by local residents. Mr Fahy told the six councillors at their meeting earlier on Wednesday that the refurbishment of some of the council's older housing stock was a key objective of the council. He said some of these houses were 20-25 years old, were often in poor condition, and would not meet modern building standards. Many houses had softwood windows and doors which were way past their normal life, he said. The works on estates in Navan and Kells included the installation of new windows and doors, updating of fire precautions and environmental enhancement. He said the council had a responsibility to ensure that builders of private houses met regulatory standards and the council could not expect these private builders complied while the council itself did not. There had been very extensive consultations over the scheme and some residents felt that the scheme should not go ahead. Mr Fahy, who was accompanied by Brendan McGrath, the council's director of environment, water services and human resources, said that no-one was being forced to go into the refurbishment scheme but he felt the council could persuade residents that the scheme was a good one, and in the best interests of all of the residents. "The Kells project is finished and it has been lauded by everybody. Every single problem that came up on that scheme was solved through negotiation with the residents. The Townspark scheme has been slow because of some contractual problems but, overall, it had 100 per cent support from the community in the area. The needs that existed in Alverno five years ago didn't go away. The remedial scheme is as valid today as it was five years ago," he said. He told councillors that the council had spent €500,000 on windows and doors and other projects in Alverno over the last few years. "That €500,000 had to come from our own resources," Mr Fahy added. When the council had initiated that project, there had been 100 per cent funded from the Department of the Environment but that sort of funding had slipped back to 80 per cent, and down to 50 per cent now. It would mean that the council would have to find more money from its own coffers. It is hoped to get the Alverno Court scheme underway in early 2011. The engineer said there had "100 per cent support" for the refurbishment scheme from the Alverno Court residents. It was expected that this scheme would be used as "a demonstration project" and that people overall in the Alverno complex would see it as a "win win" situation. "My honest opinion is that the majority of people in the Court and Heights want this project," he went on. Cllr Jimmy Cudden said he would award the officials of the council "10 out of 10 for persistence" in this project. He said there had been a public meeting some time ago and there had been an intervention at that meeting. "It was scandalous that this was allowed to take place," he said. He said that because of the actions of some objectors, the refurbishment scheme had been held up. "But for these people, Alverno Heights would be the same as Headfort Grove," he said. Cllr Sirena Campbell told the officials: "What you are proposing is excellent and we hope the residents will see the benefits and value of this." She said that there had been some "scaremongering" of older residents on the estate but there had to be an effort to quell their fears. However, the proposal to build on Alverno Heights land and then carry out improvements at Alverno Court would meet with opposition from resident in Alverno Heights, according to local resident, John Brodigan. He said residents were prepared to wait for the outcome of their meeting with the council in August, but there would be strong opposition to any proposal to build on Alverno Heights land and then carry out improvments ot Alverno Court, without carrying out improvements in Alverno Heights. He said residents of Alverno Heights were opposed to infill housing.