Concerns raised as work on Offaly housing estate is taking too long

SEVEN houses constructed by Offaly County Council at Beechgrove, Belmont, can't accept tenants yet because their utility connection schedules have been delayed until mid September.

Cllr John Clendennen criticised this state of affairs during the July meeting of Birr Municipal District. The councillor pointed out that during a time when housing is so badly needed, connections to utilities such as water and electricity should be completed “as a matter of urgency” to increase housing supply.

During the meeting the councillors agreed to write to the ESB and Minister for Housing, Darragh O’Brien, "seeking urgent connections at this housing development and asking for assurance that the allocation of all seven homes to their respective families will be done as soon as possible."

Belmont village is set to get 13 new houses. The seven delayed houses are the first phase of the development, which will possibly be completed next year.

The Council says the 13 houses will provide much needed housing in the area.

Five of the seven single-story houses will be 3-bedroom semi-detached. A further house will be a four-bedroom semi-detached dwelling, while there will also be a three-bedroom semi-detached medical needs bungalow.

Phase 2 of the development will see a further six units completed, which will be 3-bedroom single-storey properties. All dwellings are being provided as social housing units to address the current housing need in Belmont, providing housing for a small percentage of those currently on the housing waiting list.

The single-storey specifically designed medical needs detached dwelling will address the specific need of a local family in the area.

The development will be accessed from the existing Beechgrove estate which is approximately 100 metres from the main village centre. When both phases are finished, there will be 35 houses in the estate. The proposed site with an area of 0.97 hectares is accessed via Chapel Lane and the local road named L3007.

Although the Brosna is 550m to the south of the site, and the Grand Canal is 800m to the south, the Offaly County Development Plan 2014-2020, Strategic Flood Risk Assessment concluded that there is no “flood history and no fluvial flood risk identified” in Belmont, nor is it at “risk of flooding from other sources.”