Council short of staff to estimate cost of taking in charge of unfinished Kildare estates

Kildare county councillors have been told by their officials that the Council’s Development Control section do not have the resources to estimate the costs of taking some of the county’s housing estate into the charge of the council.

At the January 25 meeting of Kildare County Council, Naas area Cllr Seamie Moore asked that members be given a summary report per municipal area of “the approximate net  cost to Kildare County Council of the taking in charge of housing developments that  will no longer receive developer finance or have no bond insurance.”

 In a written report to members, Celine Barrett, the A/Director of Services, Roads, Transportation and Public  Safety Department, said: “Given the level of construction activity under way in the county, and the need  to monitor these sites on an ongoing basis, the Development Control Section  unfortunately does not have the resources to carry out surveys to prepare  approximate costings as outlined in this motion.”

Ms Barrett continued: “In addition to ongoing monitoring of active building sites, the technical staff in the  Development Control Section are working in each municipal district area to progress  several estates to taking in charge standards before bringing them to the relevant  municipal district meeting.”

She said that if Cllr Moore could advise of specific estates within his  own municipal district which are of interest, the Development Control Section will  endeavour to enumerate the potential cost of works to bring them to a taking in  charge standard. 

In response to this Cllr Moore said: “That is not an answer. Send it (the request) back.

Councillors agreed that the matter be adjourned to a future meeting.