This article is from page 8 of the 2006-04-18 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
CLARE County Council is seeking to increase by 500 per cent the number of homes provided through contentious Government legislation, in order to drastically reduce its housing waiting list.
The plans mean the council will provide 73 affordable housing units this year.
At the council’s monthly meeting last Monday, it emerged that the authority had provided only 14 affordable homes through Part V of the 2000 Planning and Development Act.
Part V requires developers to provide cash to local authorities towards the provision of affordable housing.
However, at the council’s Special Policy Committee (SPC) on Housing last week, the Acting Director for Housing, Josephine Cotter-Coughlan, said that the council intended to provide 73 Part V Affordable Housing Units this year.
The 73 Part V units form part of the council’s “expanded housing provision” in 2006, by which the housing authority intends to provide 312 new homes.
Ms Cotter-Coughlan said that the council intended to start 114 social houses. Twenty-four of these would be located in Corofin, 20 in Miltown Malbay, 19 in Sixmilebridge, 16 in Killaloe, 14 in Scarriff, 10 in Kildysart, eight in Shannon and three in Lisdoonvarna.
Ms Cotter-Coughlan said that 46 turnkey starts would be provided with 22 Clarecastle, 14 in Lisdoonvarna and 10 in Newmarket.
She said that 49 starts for voluntary housing would be made this year, with 30 in Killaloe, 10 in Clarecastle and nine in Mountshannon.
The council is also planning to commence work on 30 “affordable homes” at Kilkee.
Ms Cotter-Coughlan said that the council also intended to purchase land at Newmarket, Lisdoonvaran and Ennistymon. Currently, the Council has a landbank for social housing in 10 settlements throughout Clare, including Ballyvaughan, Miltown Malbay, Kilkee, Corofin, Broadford, and Corofin.
However, there is a demand for social housing in 36 settlements and for affordable housing in 30 settlements.
The meeting was told that the council currently didn’t have enough land to complete its housing programme and was currently short 40 acres of land for sites.
Ms Cotter-Coughlan said that a major obstacle to achieving targets in the provision of housing are the continual difficulties in securing funding from central Government in the provision of water infrastructure in a number of towns and villages.
She said, “It is a major issue.”