7 yr delay in Fr. Flanagan Tce slammed by Cllrs
THERE was something “drastically wrong” for a 22 house social housing project at Fr Flanagan Terrace to take seven years to begin.
That was the view of Cllr Rosaleen O’Grady who was echoing Cllr Declan Bree at last week’s meeting of Sligo Municipal District.
Cllr Bree had sought a report explaining why the construction work on the project was “extensively delayed”.
Demolition works to pave way for the construction of the 22 new units were originally approved as far back as 2011.
Cllr Bree said that in the intervening years numerous government ministers and TD announced and re- announced the project but “not one block was laid on the site.”
“On Friday last when the current Minister ( Simon Coveney) turned the sod on the site, one of the local residents said to me “there must be an election coming.”
“It’s an indictment of Fine Gael in Government that it takes more than seven years to have a housing development of only 22 units constructed. Is it any wonder we have a housing crisis,” he said.
Cllr Seamus Kilgannon said it had taken “far too long to get anything moving but at last we have to welcome the fact that the first sod was turned.”
The Council told Cllr Bree that work was due to start last Thursday ( 23 Feb) and would take 20 months, finishing up by Christmas 2018.
Cllr Rosaleen O’Grady said “We’ve talked about it since January 2011 so there’s something drastically wrong. It’s been rolled out so many times.”
Other housing projects in the pipeline include a rural house at Culleens and Knappagh Road major housing project on the Strandhill Road, due to start in the final Quarter of this year.
“Given the housing crisis it’s important we keep the pressure up,” said Cllr Bree.