Calls for clear plan on Louth estates still not taken in charge

Louth County Council have been told to create a detailed plan to tackle the remaining estates yet to be taken in charge by the local authority. 

Green Party councillor Marianne Butler told the March meeting of Louth County Council that the detailed plan should enable councillors to tell residents when their estate will be taken in charge. 

"I should be able with some certainty to tell a housing resident's association that you’re number 12 on the list, or you’re in a certain tranche, or you’ll be done in the next 5 years or the next 20 years. We need that level of detail, people deserve that level of detail," she said. 

Cllr Butler told the meeting that one estate is "in bits" and needs around €250,000 to repair roads and potholes.

"The estate got planning permission in 1998, it was substantially completed in the early noughties. There was a developer somewhat on the scene with a paper bond, and we can see from the record that they were still talking to the Taking-in-Charge people in 2017, but quietly put in a voluntary dissolution to their company so the company doesn’t exist.

The residents didn’t realise this happened. They thought he’s still there and this is going to happen. Had they known what they know, they would have put in their application earlier."

"Their estate is in bits. It needs a spend of about a quarter of a million, and they’re basically being told no it’s nothing to do with the council. 

They need potholes filled. I’m not able to tell them when their estates going to be taken in charge. I should be to tell them and we should be able to tell all these estates in that limbo when this is going to happen," she said. 

Independent councillor Maeve Yore told the meeting that Taking-in-Charge "wasn't taken seriously" when she was first elected 12 years ago. 

She said bigger housing estates are often chosen over those most in need. 

"I don’t agree with when we’re looking at Taking-in-Charge, if there’s only 20 houses in an estate, they won’t look at that, they want to do quantity over quality. 

The 20 occupants of houses in small estates pay their taxes, pay their road taxes just like everybody else," she said. 

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Thomas McEvoy, Director of Economic Delivery with Louth County Council said in a written statement, that the local authority is "currently working to a programme to bring estates for which a Taking-in-Charge application has been made to a satisfactory standard". 

He said the council is "actively working with 26 developers" to ensure their work meets the required standards. 

Following a review in 2025, the council identified a further eight sites which includes Lis Na Dara, Dundalk. Blakely Close, Dundalk. Sandygrove and Sandygrove Close, Blackrock, and Mullavalley Court in Louth Village. 

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.