The residents of an exclusive housing estates on the Kells Road are furious at the manner in which they were informed that there are to be 27 new houses built on their estate.
Kilkenny County Council is funding the project which is being undertaken by Hallmark Developers and the houses are destined to be occupied by people who are currently on the housing list in Kilkenny.
The residents are angry because they had initially been informed in a letter from the developer — Castlelands — that they would be fulfilling their social housing obligation, which is part of their planning agreement, off site in a location on the Granges Road.
However, the developers sold the site designated for the social houses to a consortium of medical professionals who have subsequently built a medical clinic on the site. Hence, their social housing obligation was not fulfilled.
“We are extremely annoyed that firstly we were never informed that this had occurred,” said a member of the residents’ committee.
“We received a letter telling us that there would be no apartments being built as part of phase three of our estate and that this was good news in terms of the value of our properties. However, we learned from a local councillor only some months ago that the planning permission for that site had changed and that now there was planning for 27 social houses. We were not consulted or not even informed about this development which is why we are so annoyed.
“The trucks have been coming in and out of our estate putting children playing in danger. The noise of the concrete pylons being drilled into the ground has meant that the crèche staff have not been able to get the babies to sleep. It has been utterly horrendous for residents,” she said.
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A spokesperson from Kilkenny Local Authorities housing department told the Kilkenny Advertiser this week that the developer, who has since gone into liquidation, has an obligation to fulfil his planning conditions which dictate that 20 percent of any new developments are designated for social ousing. This is a central government law devised to prevent the ‘lumping together’ of social housing which has always been the way in the past. The peppering of social houses among private homes was considered more favourable. However, this is not happening in Rosehill as all the social houses are being built together in one block.
“The original condition is that the social housing is also built on site but the developer claimed that they would proceed with the development if they could fulfil this obligation elsewhere. This was agreed but he since sold the site. The local authorities still have to see that this obligation is fulfilled by law and so the original plans to have the part five arrangement fulfilled on site will be returned” he said.
Residents are very aggrieved as they believe that they were hoodwinked by the council as they were not consulted or even informed about the new arrangements, which they believe will directly affect the value of their properties.
“People living here paid over a million euro in some cases for their homes. They have massive mortgages and every single one of us are in negative equity already. This is going to worsen an already very serious problem. There are 115 houses in this estate. Eight of them have never been occupied — why can’t these not be taken as part of the social housing obligation? They are peppered around the estate which is what was originally recommended,” a resident’s association spokesperson asked.
They also have concerns about the quality of the site, which backs onto a river and there is a 40 foot drop to the rear of the site down an embankment to the river.
“We are annoyed that we have had such a difficult few months while they were preparing the site. Big lorries were swinging in off the ringroad and children playing were at risk and there are not a lot of green areas in this estate. The noise levels were so high it could be heard down on the High Street in the city. We finally got on to the Health and Safety Authority who realised that the levels were in breach of regulations and they ordered that the trucks not be allowed to pass the crèche in the centre of the estate. They use the same entrance as the residents and it’s not good enough,” another resident complained.
Members of the council are in agreement that the residents are being treated badly and many believe that the developer hoodwinked the council executive who are obliged to see that developers fulfil their legal requirements. Two people from the original developers of the site Castlelands are now involved with the developers of the new site, Hallmark, who claim that they are not required to deal with any issues on the original site as they were not the builders.
