by Alan Jacques
FOUR sites acquired for social housing by Limerick county council during the Celtic Tiger years have been left undeveloped at a cost of €366,953 to the taxpayer.
The four sites, which now lie idle, were bought in Galbally, Templeglantine, Banogue and Patrickswell.
The cost of servicing the loan for their purchase is €12,173 a year.
However, despite the high number of people on the council housing list, the local authority says there is nothing on file to indicate that the sites were bought specifically for housing purposes.
According to the Council, the site at Galbally was purchased in 1998 for “strategic purposes and for future use. More land was bought in 2001 on a site adjacent to the existing house scheme in Templeglantine where existing services were available to service the new property..
The Council’s file report states, “The existing Sewerage Treatment Plant would need to be upgraded and extended and this can be done during future development. The site was also found to abut the existing N21 National Primary road and the possibility of a direct access was reviewed with a council planner and a roads engineer and both had no objection in principle to providing an access from the site on the public road as the site had adequate site distance and was inside the speed limit.”
“Trial holes were also carried out and the ground conditions were deemed suitable for future housing development.”
Lands at Banogue were purchased in 2001. A survey was carried out and it was found to be a level site with good ground conditions for housing construction. The file report indicates that a site investigation report was carried out by a council engineer.
“It was found that there were services passing the site and there were no archaeological features indicated on the site. The Council had also completed development on existing lands in Banogue and it was recommended that a site was necessary for future housing development,” the report states.
Limerick County Council also bought lands in Patrickswell in 2000.
A land audit carried out in 2010 revealed that 259 sites covering 775 hectares with a loan value of €500 million had been purchased by local authorities in Ireland.
