Tipperary County Council criticised over 'lack of consultation' on Nenagh house purchases

A Tipperary county councillor has criticised Tipperary County Council over what he says is the “lack of consultation” with the community on housing.

Cllr Seamus Morris made his remarks in relation to housing projects at two locations in Nenagh - Cormack Drive and Springford Meadows.

“I have been a councilor since 2004 and I have never seen the lack of consultation with local councilors like what I am seeing with the housing executive and locally elected representatives in first of all Cormack Drive and now Springfort Meadows,” he said.

Cllr Morris said that in both cases the council executive made announcements about social housing projects long into their process of building or buying them.

“It took good detective work by the residents of Springfort Meadows to find out that Tipperary County Council had almost finished the purchase of 19 houses in Springfort Meadows as early as 2022 but it was only at the March 2023 meeting that councilors were informed of it,” he said.

Cllr Morris said that a meeting was organised with some representatives of Springfort Meadows, local reps and Deputy Jackie Cahill last week and a few issues were discussed.

One of the things they discovered was that the council paid on average €280,000 for “social houses” in the estate which brought it well over the standard 20 % Part V commitments even though the Part V commitments for this estate were built elsewhere.

“We now have a situation where councils are now coming in and taking over private estates through the “turnkey” projects with no limit on what they can purchase as they try to make up for decades of not delivering Part V commitments,” he said.

Cllr Morris has asked Tipperary chief executive, Joe MacGrath, and Deputy Cahill to put a cap on what councils can buy in private estates.

“I have asked the CEO to mix up the 19 houses already purchased to 15% houses for people with disabilities 25% social housing and 50% affordable rental.