Almost €7m in levies from old Bray Town Council in the bank
Close to €7 million in development levies from the accounts of the old Bray Town Council are ring-fenced for Bray.
Director of Services, Des O’Brien, provided the last Wicklow County Council meeting with a break-down of the Development Contribution Scheme contributions under the former Bray Town Council, as requested by Cllr Joe Behan.
The Independent Councillor from Bray felt the monies could be spent to carry out improvement works in the area.
‘Bray has nearly €7 million in the bank for work to be done. I am sure there are other levies from around the county and that money is not being spent either. Spending some of the money would also introduce stimulus into the Wicklow economy. It would also help address some of the capital requirements issues we have. For instance, in Bray the road surfacing in certain estates has collapsed and there is no money to do anything.
‘ The levy scheme would help. We know Bray has €7 million so how much does the rest of the county have?’
However, Mr O’Brien, advised the council members that, legally, they weren’t entitled to use money from the Development Contribution Scheme to carry out road resurfacing or footpath works.
‘ The levy scheme is not general money the members have expression on. You can’t say that resurfacing roads in housing estates is going to facilitate development. Legally you [the elected members] are restricted from doing it.’
Chief Executive Bryan Doyle advised that Wicklow County Council had received very little in development levies over the past few years because of the lack of building taking place. However, he expected to see more levies coming on stream in the future due to a number of housing schemes currently under development.
Cllr Derek Mitchell said reducing development contributions three years ago was a mistake.
‘I was against halfing the levies and I would like to see them increased to provide infrastructure. There are a number of houses being built in Greystones and the traffic is terrible already. We can’t keep expanding towns without increasing the infrastructure, especially roads.’