Council paves the way for major development of social homes in Letterkenny

A major social housing project in Letterkenny, the biggest ever to be carried out by Donegal Council, has been approved.

Members gave Part 8 approval on Monday for the development in the Ballymacool area which will contain 172 social homes. Divided into three phases, the ambitious project has a budget of €49.3 million.

It is the biggest building project undertaken by the local authority and is the first of two such housing projects in the town. A site on the High Road, next to the Fire Station, has been earmarked for another 175 homes.

At the moment, there are 1,300 people on the social housing waiting list in the Letterkenny-Milford Municipal District.

“This won’t sort it out, but it is a massive step in the right direction,” Fianna Fail Councillor Donal Kelly told a plenary meeting of the Council in Lifford.

Councillor Kelly said there were numerous concerns about this development, in the areas of water, road infrastructure and wastewater disposal. 

Councillor Kelly told the meeting that Uisce Eireann’s commitment to ensuring an adequate supply was to be welcomed given that there have been major water issues in nearby town lands Tullygay, Conwal, Bomany and Oldtown.

The Ballymacool project comprises a mixture of apartments, maisonettes, and houses. 

The completed development will include 18 one-bedroom apartments, 38 two-bedroom apartments, 18 three-bedroom maisonettes,13 two-bedroom houses, 57 three-bedroom houses, 13 four-bedroom houses, and 4 five-bedroom houses as well as 10 two-bedroom independent living houses and one five-bedroom group home.

Councillor Kelly said that engagement with residents in Ballymacool would continue. There have been fears over road safety and traffic build-up, but these would be allayed with the estate entrance to go on the L-59443 road rather than the R250. 

It is hoped that an “adequate” bus service will also be in place by the time this project comes to completion.

Donegal County Council hope that the first phase of the project, with a target of 100 units, will be built by the end of 2026.

Sinn Fein Councillor Gerry McMonagle said this was a “much needed development” in Letterkenny and the Part 8 approval came after several workshops and meetings. He said that the active travel project, to include cycleways and footpaths, would come at a time when this housing project was coming to completion.

Fianna Fail Councillor Donal Coyle said there will be many challenges with the project, but commended the preparatory work.

He said: “It is ambitious but it is badly needed. We would need at least eight schemes of this magnitude to deal with the amount of people on the social housing list.”

100% Redress Councillor Denis McGee, who lives in an estate close to the proposed development, outlined some concern about the traffic.

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His party colleague Councillor Tomas Sean Devine said the Council needed to do more to provide social homes for tenants with disabilities. 

Independent Councillor Michael McBride added: “These houses can’t come quickly enough. 

“We must continue to develop housing of scale in tandem with the private market. The rents are out of reach for most people.”