This article is from page 3 of the 2005-10-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 3 JPG
THE residents of an up-market private hous- ing estate in Ennis are demanding that walls Surrounding their estate be raised, before a scheme of social housing is built next door.
The Bishop’s Court Residents’ Association also want security lighting to be fitted and for certain houses to be allocated to people with a “proven good record” on housing.
They want the wall built up to eight feet high and have demanded Ennis Town Council car- ry out the extension, before proceeding with plans to build the more affordable homes.
The council’s €10 million plan will see 66
houses and 16 apartments on lands that once formed part of Bishop Willie Walsh’s West- bourne estate.
Mountain View residents have also ex- pressed concerns over the plan, though they stress they are looking forward to welcoming their new neighbours.
In their submission, the Bishop’s Court Residents Association state, “under no cir- cumstances is there to be any access to West- bourne Estate via Bishop’s Court estate and green areas.”
After a residents’ meeting which was at- tended by a garda, the residents demanded that security lighting be fitted to the rear of
homes, 34 to 41 in the Bishop’s Court estate.
Their submission states, “these houses are backed by the green and wooded area; an area where there is concern that unsocial behav- iour may be ripe. This is highlighted in Crime Prevention Officers’ report.”
The residents also want the council to carry out certain repairs “should anti-social behav- iour become an issue.”
They say because houses 23 to 38 in the proposed development “back on to an exist- ing mature estate, the council should allocate these houses to tenants with a proven good record in local authority accommodation”.
The Mountain View residents’ submissions
question “the wisdom of such a high concen- tration of social and affordable housing in the Watery Rd area which already has a very high number of developments of this type.”
“We would have thought it would have been more prudent to break up the units of social and affordable housing between a number of different developments so as to avoid the kind of social stigma which some people might wrongfully attach to a large development which consists only of this type of housing
Councillors are due to make a decision on the application at a monthly meeting before the end of the year. There is no recourse to An Bord Pleanala.