NAAS, 30 October 2002: Naas Town Council is to follow the example of private estate agents and hold an Open Night in the Town Hall to showcase its latest development of Affordable Houses on the Caragh Road.
Detailed plans of the scheme, which is well under way, will be on display on the night and staff on hand to answer queries.
This follows the poor response to advertisements in local newspapers asking those interested in buying one of the houses to fill in an application form.
“We sent out some 244 application forms but only got 42 back,” Naas town clerk Declan Kirrane has told councillors.
The Council is to readvertise the scheme and is to extend the closing date for a further two weeks.
The fact that people don’t know just how much their house will cost them is a major stumbling block, according to Cllr Anthony Egan. He believed the overall scheme ‘is very modern’ and said when completed it will look ‘very different’. He said people should be told an ‘indicative figure’ as to the final cost of a house.
But officials said this won’t be known until the architect gives the final certification.
This indicative figure is in the region of £115,000 and Cllr Pat McCarthy said if ‘a big ad’ was used to advertising the houses at this price ‘we would be inundated with inquiries’.
But it seems some people don’t ‘like the look of the site’ according to Cllr Charlie Byrne. “I was told you’d be very lucky to sell four of them,” he emphasised.
“I’m just saying what I was told,” Cllr Byrne said. “It’s not going down as a very nice site at the moment. The view of the people is that if they don’t want to buy something, they won’t buy it. They won’t spend their money and take out a mortgage on them.”
“That’s an opinion,” interrupted Mayor Timmy Conway.
Cllr Mary Glennon said the negative attitude was based ‘on an erroneous misconception’ as to how the finished scheme will look. She said an artist’s impression should be available to show how the final product will look. “I can’t believe after all the belly aching that went on around this Council table that people don’t want them,” she said.
Cllr Seamie Moore said 45 responses is indicative of interest. But he said anyone interested in buying a house in a private estate would be given plans and brochures.
“We all looked at the plans and got professional advise,” added Cllr Willie Callaghan. He suggested an Open Night to promote the scheme.
“When the plans came before us we thought they were fantastic ... and the design has won awards,” stated the Mayor.
No houses in the Council’s scheme have yet been allocated.
