This article is from page 13 of the 2006-12-12 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 13 JPG
CLARE County Council has been asked to prevent housing developers in the county from converting crèche facilities in large housing estates into residential units.
At Monday’s December meeting of Clare County Council, North Clare councillor, Joe Arkins (FG), accused property developers of taking advantage of planning regulations in relation to the provision of childcare facilities.
Developers are required to provide childcare facilities in developments of 75 housing units or larger but Cllr Arkins expressed his worries that this arrangement is being abused.
“The developers look for €1,000 a week rent for the crèche building or offer to sell it for one or two million,” said Cllr Arkins.
“They then apply to Clare County Council for a change of use for the crèche facilities and state that they have proved that there is no need for the facility.”
These “contrived vacancies” were heavily criticised by Cllr Arkins who called on the council to decline any submission for change of use for these crèche facilities in all cases.
“They probably designed it in such a way as to make it easier for them to be converted back to apartments,” continued Cllr Arkins.
“There should be no changes in use whatsoever as long as deficiencies in the childcare system still exist.
“It should not be tolerated for a developer to look for exorbitant rents for these facilities,” Cllr. Arkins concluded.