Solve the sewage, say Newbridge estate residents
Joe Burke, Chairperson of The Groves Residents Association Upper Dara Park who is campaigning for an improved sewage system for residents standing at an area known for it's anti-social behaviour Photo Jimmy Fullam
A number of residents in Dara Park in Newbridge are up in arms over a long standing sewage problem which has yet to be fixed by Kildare County Council. Chairperson of the Residents Association Joe Burke, who raised the issue with KCC last week, claims the main line serving the estate is at fault.
“The main line is wrong,” said Joe who lives at The Groves and is chairperson for this area of Dara Park which is made up of about 70 houses,out of 140 in total.
“It is supposed to go away from the houses but instead it is falling back towards them. My next door neighbour had to leave the house the smell got so bad last week.
“KCC sent a crowd round to blow out the system where it was backed up. They come around nearly weekly at this stage. Even when my own children were younger they had to walk through sewage at times to get on the bus. A pump was put in years ago but the whole thing was never put in properly.”
According to Mr Burke, the council agreed to put in a new system 12 years ago but it never materialised.
“The council were happy to put in a whole new system on the condition that they could build two new houses at the end of each row,” he said. “The residents said no and it never happened. Now the council say they have no money.”
Mr Burke said that he wants the council to communicate better with residents of the estate.
“It is a weekly problem now so it must be expensive for the council to send round a crowd to blow and drain it out. It is only a temporary solution to the problem and it will be the same this week or next and some of the residents will have to ring again.”
He also said that there was a worry that one of the residents in the estate would become sick as a result of the problem.
“If someone gets sick KCC are going to be in serious trouble. Enough is enough - thankfully no body has gotten sick but when you have children walking through sewage something is wrong.”
According to Mr Burke other long standing problem areas with the estate include anti-social behaviour, a long standing issue with flooding and a derelict house that has become a waste ground for litter bugs.
However Kildare County Council has confirmed in a statement to the Leinster Leader that it does not have any plans for a long-term solution to the sewage problem.
“The Council does not currently have any plans for a long-term solution to the situation with the wastewater infrastructure of Dara Park, however, it will continue to respond to any such problems which may arise and deal with them as it has done in the past,” it read.
“The Council was not aware of subsidence in the footpaths in Dara Park, but will investigate this matter further.
“A number of requests have been received to install bollards around the green area to prevent parking on the green or from driving across the green area.
“Funding is not available within the Council’s Roads Budget to install bollards nor would it usually be considered a good solution to this problem as access for emergency vehicles should not be restricted if at all possible.
“At the end of 2011 the Area Office resolved a flooding issue that had been ongoing. The Council is not aware of any further flooding issues in Dara Park. Derelict site notices have been served on the owners of this property and the site is being monitored.”
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Thursday 17 May 2012
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