Tipperary councillor calls for special fund to pay for grass cutting in housing estates

A Tipperary county councillor is calling on the council to establish a special fund to pay for grass cutting in housing estates.

Cllr Seamsu Morris has a motion before the next meeting of Nenagh Municipal District Council calling a local fund along the lines of the roads tertiary funds for councillors to allocate to estates where the management companies or residents associations have stopped functioning when it comes to grass cutting.

Cllr Morris has raised the issue previously.

He told the May meeting of Nenagh Municipal District Council that many residents were now refusing to pay their voluntary residents' associations for grass cutting because so many houses were either owned by the council or private landlords, neither of whose tenants paid for the service.

He told the council that many people were now saying the service should be paid out of the Local Property Tax fund.

He instanced one estate in the town in which he said the residents’ association had “just given up” and the grass was not being cut.

“The council are buying houses in estates but are not paying money for grass cutting,” he said.

Cllr Morris said that most estates had voluntary residents’ associations and these people were being “laughed at” especially when it came to council houses that don’t pay.

He said he was flagging the issue before it raised its head and he knew it would be costly to take in on.

However, district administrator Rosemary Joyce said that the council provided a contribution to residents’ association for the service.

“We pay this contribution to 40 estates across the district. For the district to take it on would have serious implications across the county and could take funding from other areas,” she said.

“There are a lot of places where people are paying the money,” Ms Joyce pointed out.

Then Cathaoirleach Cllr Hughie McGrath said it was probably a matter that should go before the council’s SPC.

“It has started to raise its head. People are saying they are paying their taxes,” said Cllr McGrath.