At last night’s meeting of Castlebar Town Council it was expected that the council would formally begin the process of taking over two major housing estates in the heart of the town.
The residents of the Glenfort and Viewpoint estates have been involved in a long running campaign to get the estates taken over by the local authority. The matter has come up at a number of meetings of the local authority in the past and the council has worked with the contractor to ensure that the estates were brought to required standard.
The two estates have 90 houses in total — 50 in Glenfort and 40 in Viewpoint, and the first planning permission granted for either development was given 23 years ago.
Sinn Féin councillor Thérèse Ruane, a Glenfort resident and long campaigner on this issue, said this week that she is delighted that this is finally taking place. She described the recent progress as “very positive” and “not before time” and complimented the residents committee and the council for taking action and bringing about the long-promised works.
She went on to say that she will continue to lobby and campaign on the issue of unfinished housing estates so that residents can enjoy a quality of life they deserve.
Labour Party councillor, Harry Barrett has also warmly welcomed the decision of Castlebar Town Council to formally take over the Glenfort Estate. He praised the actions of the residents' association and commended the work of the engineering and outdoor staff of the council.
“I am thrilled that the residents of Glenfort have finally won out and that this long drawn out saga has come to an end. Their efforts have involved scores of meetings and letters and phone calls, but they never relented and have finally achieved their goal,” he stated.
“ All credit must go to them and indeed the engineering and outdoor staff of Castlebar Town Council, who, through their work, have handed the residents an estate to be very proud of.
“I am personally satisfied with my own efforts in assisting their cause, in particular my motions to have the estate taken over and to have the adjacent sites deemed as derelict under the Derelict Sites Act 1990.
“I believe that these motions concentrated the minds of all involved and I am thrilled that the children of Glenfort will have a proper green area to play on this summer and the residents have finally been rewarded for their trojan work over the years.”
