Council in process of taking charge of Offaly housing estate

THE process of taking Hophill in charge by the council in Tullamore is in progress, the director of services with the Municipal District Tom Shanahan has said.

Offaly County Council didn’t have powers to do anything about a recent illegal encampment at Hophill, Cllr Sean O’Brien told last week’s Tullamore Municipal District meeting.

Cllr O’Brien proposed that the council 'take in charge' the area.

This means the council would take on responsibility for the maintenance of roads, footpaths and public areas associated with Hophill.

“We have had issues there with illegal encampments. No part of the estate has been taken in charge so the council couldn’t take any action,” said the Independent councillor.

“They have been waiting there a long time for it to be taken in charge. I would ask our management to work closely with the Spollen group to resolve any issues that are outstanding that could be preventing the council from taking it in charge.

“There is a fantastic residents group there, they do a lot of work themselves and I would ask that it be prioritised,” he said.

Cllr Tony McCormack seconded the motion and said there are a couple of other estates that are seeking the council to take over. “If we are going down that route,” added the Fianna Fail councillor.

Cllr Ken Smollen also supported the motion. “We have fine people there and what happened there recently wasn’t nice. There are a couple of smaller issues that could be dealt with there also,” said the Independent representative.

The Cathaoirleach, Cllr Neil Feighery said he wanted to lend his support to the motion: “There was a very good meeting held there and the views of the residents were heard. If it was in charge of the council it would help to alleviate some of those issues. We have to take cognisance of a number of estates across the district of Tullamore that need to be taken in charge. But we have to accept there is an issue with resources.”