NAAS, 27 November 2002: A proposal by the Respond Voluntary Housing Organisation to build some 255 residential social and affordable housing units on a site at Craddockstown Road was hailed this week as a 'fantastic deal' by Naas Town Council chairman Mayor Timmy Conway.
He was commenting on a presentation by a delegation from Respond, made to the council at its meeting on Tuesday night. But many councillors expressed reservations about the project, with several of them making clear their disatisfaction that the organisation had approached Kildare County Council first with the proposal, when it was the Town Council that was the planning authority for the site.
Respond has already signed agreements to buy the 21.6-acre site, which is currently zoned as agricultural, and will require a material contravention of the Naas Development Plan if planning permission is to be granted.
The Naas councillors have already turned down one proposal for the site, on the grounds of density.
Ned Brennan of Respond (on right in picture, with Respond architect John Rogers) told the meeting that Kildare County Council had been approached first because they were the funding authority through whom the money to build the development would be provided by the Department of the Environment.
The councillors were told that the project was now in the 'consultation' phase, and the organisation would be liaising closely with the town council from now on.
Among the concerns expressed by council members was the location of the proposed development, which is outside the current development zone of the town.
Cllr Seamie Moore told the Respond people that if they had 'consulted' with the town council prior to going to Craddockstown Road, they would have found that the town already had a land bank 'which we could have supplied free if we so wished'. He said the Craddockstown site was a long way out for anyone walking into town, and it was also on a road which the council had hoped could be kept as a local 'walking road'.
Cllr Willie Callaghan said 'the cart has been put before the horse' and asked why it had taken Respond five months after they had presented to Kildare County Council before they came to the town council. Cllr Pat O'Reilly also said he was 'absolutely amazed' that the project had gone so far with KCC 'before it came to us, the planning authority'.
Cllr Pat McCarthy said that the town council could be presented with a 'fait accompli' in a few months' time, where for the councillors to turn down an application for a material contravention 'would put us in a very invidious position'.
Prior to the discussion, Respond's chief architect John Rogers had shown a video describing the organisation's work around the country. Projects already in progress in Kildare include developments in Leixlip and Celbridge, and he told the councillors that there was also a project completed in Athy.
Mayor Conway said 'there'd be no problem' about any application for rezoning of the land. "Through Respond, we'd be getting money from the Government that we wouldn't otherwise get," he said. "We have nothning to lose and everything to gain, and I would welcome you with open arms."
Following a reminder from Cllr Mary Glennon that the council could only look at the project 'in terms of good planning', the mayor accused her of 'twisting everything'.
In response to a query by Cllr Charlie Byrne, Ned Brennan said the 'affordable' element of the development should provide homes at around the E130,000-150,000 level.
