merrion street

NEW INITIATIVE AND FUNDS TO SPEED UP THE TAKING IN CHARGE PROCESS FOR ESTATES”

Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Alan Kelly T.D., has today 3rd February 2016 announced a new national initiative and pilot scheme funding to speed up the ‘taking in charge’ process of estates across the country.
Normally, once estates are completed to standard, developers or residents apply to local authorities to take over future maintenance of roads and footpaths, street lights and other services but where proper standards are not met, the process can be delayed. There are over 1,500 estates where these applications are outstanding.
More widely, new data collated by the Department of the Environment and to be published shortly shows that because of the major increase in urban development across the country over the past 15 years and the 2000 former unfinished developments that have now been resolved under the Government’s action programme on unfinished housing developments, there are now over 5,600 completed housing developments which have not been taken in charge including the 1,500 applications on hand.
Government yesterday signed off on a proposal from Minister Kelly to put in place a €10m pilot scheme speed up the taking in charge process through demonstration projects to improve co-ordination between local authorities, Irish Water and other stakeholders, address infrastructural deficits and bring in additional funding from bonds and other sources.
Minister Kelly pointed out that the €10 million starts a process which will help local authorities to speed up the taking in charge of these estates highlighting that:
“Over 5,600 estates across the country need to be taken in charge on a progressive basis to clear up uncertainty for residents concerned about who is going to keep street lights operating and maintained, fixing roads and footpaths and maintaining water services”.
Minister Kelly continued stating that:
“Many of the developers have disappeared or gone bust. Government has made great progress in tackling over 2,000 unfinished estates and this is the next step in tackling the legacy of the financial and construction collapse
Minister Kelly stated that he believed that every resident in housing estates should have certainty about who is ultimately responsible for maintenance of roads, streetlights, footpaths and water services outside their door but pointed out that:
“Unfortunately, due to the crash, residents currently have no timetable for when their estate is going to be taken in charge or even if it is on a list. I want to repeat the success of the national programme on unfinished developments and that is why I am pleased the Government has signed off on this initiative to build a proper national program, to speed up the process of resolving yet another legacy from the crash and clear the backlog.
Local authorities are being briefed on the initiative today Wednesday 3rd February and will draw down funds later in 2016. Further details will be available on the Department’s website www.environ.ie shortly.