Cormack Drive residents seek meeting over housing plan

A meeting has been called for between Tipperary Co Council and local residents over the council's controversial plan to add 12 new houses to Nenagh's Cormack Drive estate.

Residents of the estate and the adjoining St Conlon's Road are opposed to the plan, which they say will add to antisocial behaviour problems being caused by a minority of residents in Cormack Drive. Several residents said they have lost trust in the council and expressed concern that further troublesome tenants could be moved into the area.

Traffic problems have also been raised, with residents pointing to the problems that frequently arise during school times and when matches are played at nearby MacDonagh Park.

But their fundamental argument is that the plan is in breach of an agreement made between the residents and former Nenagh Urban District Council around the time Cormack Drive was built 30 years ago. Three former chairmen of the old council last week publicly stated that the agreement precluded the building of any more houses in the estate.

Cormack Drive residents spokesman Michael Ryan has been living in the estate for 27 years. He said he and others who have been living in the estate for longer clearly remember the agreement.

“We've had to bother people who have retired and moved on to prove that there is an agreement,” Mr Ryan said. “Even if it was only a good faith agreement, I don't think the council can break it.”

Several residents this week expressed disappointment that a majority of local councillors voted in favour of building new houses in Cormack Drive, despite giving assurances to the contrary. Mr Ryan said he understands the reasoning behind their decision but wondered if the matter might now be revisited in light of the agreement.

“A lot of councillors voted for this thinking it was a step in the right direction,” he said. “I totally understand the need for more housing and I understand that many people are desperate and they need houses. But there are plenty of other options, better options.”

He cited the council's land at Stereame, which he argued would be far more suitable than adding further houses to an already high-density housing estate. There are also many vacant houses around the town - including four in Cormack Drive itself - and residents find it difficult to understand why these are not being used.
 
Mr Ryan said it is worth noting that more than half the houses in Cormack Drive are privately-owned. He said the challenges of 30 years ago are still present. There are many examples of bad planning present; adding further houses and more traffic into an estate of 80 houses with just one vehicular entrance is not the solution, he argued.

Local councillor Séamus Morris has asked the council to facilitate a meeting with the three former chairmen of Nenagh UDC, the residents' representatives of Cormack Drive and St Conlon's Road, the nine Nenagh Municipal District councillors and executive. He welcomed the confirmation from former chairmen Tom Ryan, Jimmy Nolan and Paddy Richardson that the residents were “promised” that there would be no more houses in the estate.