Anomalies coming to light in list of estates exempt from charge

A list of unfinished residential estates in Meath which will be exempt from the new €100 household charge, precursor to a full-blown property tax, was issued recently by Meath County Council. It includes Academy Square, Fitzherbert Woods and Beaufort Place, Navan; Brackinrainey Wood, Longwood; Churchfields, Ashbourne; Clos na Croise, Kilballivor, Ballivor; Fairlands, Dunboyne; Knightsbrook, Trim; Ledwidge Hall (phase 1), Slane; Loughcrew Hills, Oldcastle; Loughmore Square, Killeen Castle, Dunsany; Maudlin Vale, Trim; Poynton Place, Ballivor; Regent's Hall, Ashbourne; Slan Duff View, Kentstown; The Maudlins, Main Street, Duleek; The Old Forge, Dunshaughlin; Tubberclaire Meadows, Navan, and Whitefield Manor, Bettystown. However, it has now come to light that there may be some anomalies in this list and the charge towards having it rectified was led at this week's Meath County Council meeting by Fine Gael Cllr Maria Murphy. There has also been an interesting winkling out of information by Cllr Joe Reilly on the discussions between the council and Nama on the progress on rectifying unfinished estates. When the estates were examined, 40 in Meath were categorised in four categories - 1: 11 estates where the estate is broadly completed, the developer is active and there are no safety issues; 2: where a receiver has been appointed and the estate is being managed appropriately from a public safety point of view; 3: where the developer is still in place, there is no on-site activity and the developer is responsible for public safety issues, and 4: where there is no activity on-site, the developer cannot be contacted, no receiver is in place and where serious public safety issues are evident and efforts to compel the site owner to address same have been unsuccessful. Estates in categories three and four are entitled to a waiver from payment of the household charge in 2012. Cllr Murphy also raises an interesting issue. She feels that it makes "absolute sense" that unfinished estates be exempt from the household charge and points out that residents of these estates face daily distress as they view half-completed houses all around them. More interestingly, she feels the basis for categorising which estates could be regarded as unfinished was flawed. The Department of the Environment should have based their findings on the conditions which residents had to undure in these distressed estates rather than on the financial viability of the individual developers. She added that estates such as Fairlands in Dunboyne and Kribensis Manor in Clonee are included on the list but Summerseat in Clonee has been omitted. The developer of Summerseat recently applied for an extension of the planning permission from five to 10 years and this planning permission is for a total of 377 housing units, she added. At present there are up to 100 incomplete housing units on the site. She believes that this estate should also be included on the list of estates exempted this year from payment of the charge, and said there were other similiar examples across the county. These assessments may change next year when the local authorities are expected to play a bigger part in designating estates which are to be exempt. That will be a positive step, although there are indications that residents in three estates in the general Dunshaughlin area will refuse to pay this year and will be in arrears by the time re-categorisation comes around. This is the first time an exercise of this kind has been carried out and there are bound to be some teething problems around the process of deciding what is finished and what is unfinished (although I take the view that people were entitled to a proper demand in writing for the new charge), but these should be sorted out as soon as possible so that the system is seen to be fair to all householders. In addition, there has been no response to date to the call by Tommy Curran of Meath MABS (Money Advice and Budgeting Service) that people paying the new charge over the council's counter be allowed pay by instalment. With so many other demands on hard-pressed families, this is another one they could do without. The Department of the Environment and Local Government should be pressed to come up with a solution.