NEWBRIDGE, 12 July 2001: by Grace Halford. Today is the last day for submissions on Kildare’s Draft Housing Strategy, and the document was the main reason for discussion at Tuesday night’s meeting of Newbridge Town Commission.
Councillor John O’Neill noted that Newbridge was one of the fastest-growing towns in the county with and estimated population of 45,000 forecasted for the next 20 years.
The strategy looks to 2005 and was compiled by Newbridge town clerk Charlie Talbot (right) as County Kildare's special projects officer. It shows that the number of people on the housing lists is still increasing despite attempts by the Council to tackle it, and he told the commissioners that the main problem was ‘due to the rising costs of land and house prices in the area’.
Councillor O’Neill suggested that there are major problems ahead for Newbridge if the housing crisis is not tackled, but he did not think that building 100 council houses at once in an area was the solution and he said he wanted to avoid the creation of ghettos. Cmmr Pat Black agreed.
Cmmr Spike Nolan felt that there was a huge problem regarding single people obtaining accommodation in the area. This was especially true for single men and he said that it was terrible to think that many of them faced the treat of eviction or the humiliation of being brought to the court house on a regular basis. He said that although the Eastern Health Board was helping to subsidise the cost of some accommodation - which could be as much as £500 pounds per month - this was not enough. He also spoke of the pressures which such people were under and he feared for their mental wellbeing. "The problem has to be tackled now," he said.
Cmmr Ray O’Brien said that 30% of the population in the area would not be able to afford houses in the next four to five years and he added that the limit of £100,000 for affordable housing grants left a shortfall of at least £40,000 as the average cost of a house in Newbridge was approximately this.
Cmmr Colm Feeney said that one of the main problems he saw regarding the housing crisis was the cost of land in the area and that a house could still be built for approximately £50,000 but it was the initial cost of obtaining a site that was causing a lot of the problems. He suggested that a couple of acres of land at the Curragh Plains be obtained, as it was public land which was not being used. Charlie Talbot said that the Curragh was very important to Kildare and Newbridge as an amenity, and he did not welcome the idea – a view echoed by several of the other commissioners.
Cmmr O’ Brien said that "although he recognised the fact that the Commission was not a Housing Authority he felt that it should have a larger say in housing development . "Newbridge has at present all the infrastructure needed for the provision of additional housing and was now just waiting for the houses themselves," he said.
Submissions on the draft strategy should be sent to the County Secretary, Kildare County Council, St Mary’s, Naas, before 5.00pm today, Thursday 12 July 2001.
©2001gracehalford/knn