Meath’s last ghost estate and a ‘time capsule to the Celtic Tiger crash’

Angry residents in Trim who have been waiting almost 14 years for their housing development to be finished have spoken out on the devastating impact of living in what is believed to be Meath’s last ghost estate.

Despite years of pleading Residents of Maudlin Vale say they have been “forgotten” are calling for Meath County Council to take action.

A resident who asked not to be named says he bought “the house of his dreams in Maudlin Vale in 2007, but 14 years later he and dozens of others are still waiting for the estate to be finished. The site marked out for an additional 40 houses has deteriorated to hazardous wasteland that has been left abandoned with open trenches, sewers and dangerous excavations according to the frustrated home owner who said:

“I think we are the last ghost estate in Meath, we are at the centre of a heritage town and it is like Maudlin Vale is remains a time capsule to the Celtic Tiger crash. Nothing has really changed apart from us working with the council to get some of the rubbish removed everything still looks at same as it did despite that there is a huge housing need around the county.”

Two phases of the development are finished, and the final phase has always been the bone of contention dating back to 2007 as explained:

“We bought into the dream but now it's like living in a nightmare. The original development company got into financial trouble back in 2007.”

As the planning permission was due to expire in 2007 the developer was granted an extension in order to finish the estate, however, no steps were taken to finish the development and when they applied for a second extension some years later the residents had enough.

“The developer got the first planning permission extension to finish the estate. Four years later in 2011, they tried to apply for another extension but at that stage, we were not going to stand for it. We had no lighting, no proper road no infrastructure and a hazardous wasteland area that was a danger to our children and that become a site for illegal dumping.

“We put in an objection and put pressure on the council and in the end, the planning permission was refused. In turn, Meath County Council placed an enforcement notice on the application listing 60 conditions that had to be adhered to before they could even turn a sod. The enforcement notice gave us and the council a huge amount of power back and we were hopeful that this was on the way to being resolved but sadly we were wrong.”

An appeal was made by the developer and An Bord Pleanála overturned Meath Council's decision restoring live planning on the site. A short time later the developer got into financial difficulty and the lending agent took over the estate before an investment group acquired the project.

It was at this stage that some efforts were put into making this wasteland safe.

“An Bord Pleanála's planning permission expired in 2017, which meant the previous enforcement notice could technically be re-instigated, but the owner secured planning again until 2022.

“We are keen to raise the issue as to why other greenfield sites around Trim are being developed ahead of Maudlin Vale, a brownfield unfinished estate which is in contradiction with the government policy on managing and resolving unfinished estates.

The development of 300 houses was approved in 2019 on the Dublin Road and construction has started but Maudlin Vale, a brownfield site in the centre of Trim, in line with the Meath Development Plan, 150 metres from Trim Castle has been ignored and turned into a rubbish tip.

“We want to know what the plan for Maudlin Vale is. Most of us are here 13 or 14 years, we are banging the drum for about the last 12 years. Meath County Council cannot activate the enforcement order once there is live planning.

The planning permission is due to run out in July 2022, are we going to be stuck in another seven-year cycle?”

Declan McNamee (46), bought his home in 2007 but admits that dealing with the unfinished estate has been so “horrific” for him and his family that they spent the past five years saving to buy another house.

“It has been so bad that I have had to take up three jobs to try to get money to get out of here and I’m going next year because I can’t deal with it anymore.

“I have two kids and they have nowhere to play. I can’t let them outside because there is no green. It has had such an impact that we have had to work like hell to get out of here.

“We scrimped and saved, lived on nothing and had no holidays away, it took a lot of sacrifice, but we now have a deposit to buy another house in a nearby estate.

“Not to mention that value would be very low now because no one wants to move into an unfinished estate, the only chance I have is to try to rent it out.

“It has been a total loss to us. A lot of housing estates were victims of the crash but for that still to be affecting us in 2021 is just terrible.

“I’m one of the lucky ones, I’m getting out but it doesn’t take away from the thirteen years I’ve been going through this.”

Sandra Moore bought her house in Maudlin Vale in 2007.

“The uncertainty of what is going to happen the estate going forward is causing a lot of distress for residents, our house has already been devalued.

“It is now worth around 100k less than what we paid for it.

“It is difficult for us but a lot of us are in a position that we’d never be able to move now.

We’d love to see the estate finished, this has been hanging over us for way too long.”

Meath County Council in a statement said it does not have the powers to take an estate in charge which has a live planning application associated with it.

“Condition 14 of An Bord Pleanála permission PL17.239421 updated by Extension of Duration permission TA170713 requires the developer to complete the entire estate to the relevant standards and maintained by the developer until such a time as it is taken-in-charge by the Council.”