House building held up in Nenagh

Badly needed social housing provision in the Nenagh Municipal District is falling behind other areas of Tipperary because of a lack of waste water treatment facilities, Cllr Michael O’ Meara has stated.

Speaking at the October meeting of the district authority, Cllr O’ Meara said Roscrea and Clonmel municipalities were faring much better than Nenagh in terms of social housing provision.

He said “the elephant in the room” when it came to delivering housing in the Nenagh municipality was the lack of sewage treatment facilities.

While Uisce Éireann was now proceeding with plans to upgrade the Nenagh sewage treatment plant, the water company had admitted that it could take until 2029 before a proper plant would be up and running in Cloughjordan.

House building had to be stalled in Cloughjordan due to the lack of sewage treatment infrastructure. A similar problem existed in Ballycommon where the building of new housing was also stalled.  “We cannot deliver houses if we do not have the proper infrastructure.”

Cllr Fiona Bonfield called on Uisce Éireann to expedite the upgrade of the Nenagh Waste Water Treatment Plant, saying there were several housing schemes were developers were waiting to start building pending the proper sewage infrastructure being put in place.

HOUSE PRICES SOAR

Cllr Joe Hannigan said the price of houses in Nenagh was “gone through the roof” because demand was far outstripping supply. “It seems our particular district is falling behind when it comes to the push to provide new housing.”

Cllr Séamie Morris said a number of social houses that had been constructed in Springfort Meadows in Nenagh remained unoccupied. “People are looking at them empty for months now.”

Cllr Morris said that in fairness to the council, it had purchased a lot of land to provide new housing. A scheme of 67 new houses built by the housing agency, Respond, at Tyone were nearing completion and there were others coming on stream near the Abbey Court Hotel. These would help to substantially reduce the house waiting list in the town.

Ms Joyce said the fact that the council had granted planning permission to Uisce Éireann to proceed with the upgrade of the waste water treatment plant in Nenagh would result in new housing coming on stream.

In terms of lack of provision in Cloughjordan and Ballycommon, she urged councillors to keep raising the issue in the hope that Uisce Éireann would  expedite the delivery of sewage treatment infrastructure in both those villages.

District Manager Liam Brett said fresh momentum had been added to efforts to build new homes in Nenagh town due to the fact that planning permission had recently been granted for the Nenagh treatment plant.