KILDARE: Complaints over unfinished estate
"The issue is 17 years old" - claim
Complaints about the delay in completing a housing estate in Naas have been made by local politicians.
Six Naas councillors asked about progress in completing Primrose Garden on the Newbridge side of the town.
Cllr Carmel Kelly pointed out that the issue is 17 years old and asked whether Kildare County council could take more action to have the work completed so that it could be taken in charge by Kildare County Council - which means that the council is then responsible for infrastructural maintenance.
Cllr Evie Sammon said it seems that the bare minimum of work is benign undertaken once the council contacts the developer.
“We need to get a large tranche of works done,” Cllr Sammon added and there was a call from Cllr Fintan Brett to prevent houses being sold until all necessary work has been done.
Cllr Colm Kenny said bits of the estate are not completed and the area is “uninviting.”
Another councillor, Seamie Moore, said KCC’s enforcement section “is afraid to enforce.”
He said the developer is responsible for public lighting and shouldn’t have been given permission to sell the properties “till the estate is truly finished.”
“KCC have a big say (in this) and they're not playing their part,” Cllr Moore said, adding houses should be sold only when they’re in a reasonable state of completion.
According to KCC however progress is being made and Airtricity are expected on site shortly and all of the public lighting is working. It is also expected that an audit of the pumping station there will be carried out shortly.
KCC received a taking in charge request, for Primrose Garden from the developer Blackpadd Construction in April 2021.
KCC then requested the developer to provide CCTV surveys of the storm and foul lines along with matching as-constructed drawings. It also asked for all storm attenuation/petrol interceptors/flow control devices to be shown as constructed.
The council also sought a pumping station report, a leak detection survey and confirmation that all landscaping has been carried out in accordance with approved landscaping plans.
Confirmation that all public lighting is in working order was also sought.
In a report, KCC indicated that the developer has continued to engage with the council and all investigative reports were completed. Ongoing public lighting issues have been addressed and council engineers are engaging with the developer on a weekly basis to progress the taking in charge.