MINISTER VISITS TWO HOUSING SITES IN TOWN
The progress of two social housing developments in Drogheda was inspected by Minister of State for Housing & Urban Development Damien English last week.
Accompanied by local politicians and representatives of Louth County Council and North & East Housing Association, the sites at Old Fire Station at Scarlet Street and at Rathmullan Road were visited to get an update on construction.
Both developments are expected to be complete by next year and will provide 69 new homes for social housing use, with all tenants coming off the council housing list.
Local TD Fergus O’Dowd met the Minister with local Fine Gael Councillors Oliver Tully and Richie Culhane to discuss the progress made to date and the need for more capital investment in social housing for Drogheda.
‘Both of these projects will provide state of the art homes for many of the most vulnerable families and individuals in our constituency,’ said Deputy O’Dowd.
‘ There are over 1,000 social homes targeted for completion by 2021 in County Louth and this will go some way in reaching the target, however I will continue to raise my views to introduce a more efficient and streamlined process to bring vacant units back into use and I will continue to campaign for a vacant homes tax to encourage more owners to bring their vacant units back into use.’
15 new homes will be complete at the former site of the fire station in Scarlet Street in late 2019.
This project undertaken by North & East Housing Association will revitalise this site while incorporating the character of the existing historic neighbourhood and will provide homes catering for the needs of families and the elderly. The site itself used to be part of the grounds of the Sienna Convent and the proposal aims to open up Scarlet Street to the mature trees and parkland setting of the convent.
The Rathmullen Road site will deliver 105 homes in total. North and East Housing were approved for €3.4m to deliver 54 units and Tuath were approved for €3.2m to deliver 51 units. 10 units have been delivered to date with 19 more units targeted by the end of 2018. 60 units are targeted for 2019 and 16 for 2020.
The site is a brown field site and is prioritised for development in the DBC Development plan 2011-2017. Construction has commenced with the first homes becoming available in the second half of 2018 and being completed by the middle of 2019.
Rathmullan Road is a well-established residential area within walking distance of Drogheda. When constructed, the development will provide modern, traditionally built, energy efficient homes for families, older people, single people and people with disabilities.