Council News in Brief... Cllr sees room for improvement on accommodation offerings
Independent Cllr Gillian Toole asked the council to note that more and more people over the age of 60 are being given notice to quit. She said the concentration in the development world was one one-bed or two-bed accommodation units. While one-beds might not be adequate for needs, in some cases two-beds would be “wasteful” so why not go for one and a half bed units? she asked.
Fianna Fail Cllr Wayne Harding asked at a meeting of Meath County Council if the N51 Dunmoe Phase 2 project will be finished by its target date this month. He also asked for a date for the next phase of the Boyne Greenway.
Independent Cllr Trevor Golden asked if it would be possible to get a breakdown on some of the issues involving anti-social behaviour. He said they were “all rolled into one” and he understood that that was for brevity purposes. He understood some of the issues were quite serious and he would like further information on those. A second question related to notices to quit. “When a person is given this notice, what happens to that person then?”
Fine Gael Cllr Sharon Tolan expressed her disappointment on the progress of the Donacarney footpath and cycleway project. She had raised the subject over a number of months and didn’t have details as to when it would go out to tender. It was one of the biggest issues raised with her on a daily basis. She couldn’t see the council making its target of going to tender by March.
She also wondered when compulsory purchase order movement would be made on the Tara Road.
Independent Cllr Amanda Smith welcomed the “fantastic news” that the council had acquired land for a graveyard in Stamullen.
Independent Cllr Gillian Toole asked the council to note that more and more people over the age of 60 are being given notice to quit. She said the concentration in the development world was one one-bed or two-bed accommodation units. While one-beds might not be adequate for needs, in some cases two-beds would be “wasteful” so why not go for one and a half bed units? she asked.
Director of Services in Housing Barry Lynch, replying to Cllr Golden said that he would follow up on the query about antisocial behaviour. On the question about notices to quit in council property, this would happen after going through due process.
Replying to Cllr Toole on older housing applicants, he said that the over 65 group represented just 3 per cent of the total, under-18s would represent about 28 per cent, people from 18 to 25 about 12 per cent. The bulk of people aged 25 to 40 (30 per cent). The question of one and a half bed units was something that would have to be discussed with the Department.
Relaying to Cllr Harding, a council official confirmed that the end of February was the timeline for completion of N51 works.
On the Boyne Greenway, he said that flood data had been collected and that was being built into a flood model. Work on that should be completed in 6-8 weeks, he said.
On Cllr Tolan’s query about Tara Road, he said that the CPO was complete but there were financial compensation connected to a few landowners. On the Donacarney footpath, there had been difficulty with a couple of landowners which was slowing up that project.