Taggart demise leaves residents in Trim without a finished estate

Residents in a Trim housing estate are deeply concerned that outstanding works in their estate will not be completed after the developer went bust last week. Taggart Holdings Ltd, which developed Rochford Manor on the Dublin Road in Trim, has become one of the highest profile development companies to fall victim of the slump. Rochford Manor residents are now fearful that outstanding works in their estate will not be completed. Some internal roads do not have their final wearing surface, public lighting is not installed and the proposed open space area has not been landscaped. Residents do not know if or when the works will be completed and, with the marketing suite and offices removed from the estate last week, they have nobody to contact to find out what is going to happen. Gabrielle Bloomer, who lives in one of the houses opposite the undeveloped green area, said: 'I didn"t know anything until I heard it on the news. My main concern is that there is no street lighting and it is very dark and also the way the area on front of our houses was left and the potholes on the street.' She said there are things left to be finished in their houses and she does not know if another company will take over and if they will do these jobs. 'We bought our house off the plans and we paid big money. Now, we"re not sure if we"re going to get anything finished. There is nobody to contact and the marketing suite was taken away a few days ago. We are after paying a lot of money and we are hoping that the people who take over will facilitate us. The not knowing is hard.' Mrs Bloomer said the hoarding around the green area was only taken away a week ago and they thought work was going to start on it but now all the workmen are gone. Anke Bayertz, who also lives opposite the 'green" area, said she has a young baby and wants a green area for him to be able to play on. She said they moved in last January and had been told the green area would be done in March, but the work is still not done. Ms Bayertz said that the lights are not working and it is now dark at night and she is concerned about safety. 'It does not look good having no lights; we are concerned that it might bring crime into the area.' She went on: 'We also have problems with our heating. Now the builder has gone bust and we don"t know what they are going to do about things.' Cllr Ray Butler said he had been contacted by residents who reported that there had been some lights working in the estate but the light heads and wiring had been removed last week. 'There are a lot of irate people in pitch darkness. In certain areas, the lights were working and the light heads were all taken off and now there are no lights whatsoever. This can"t be allowed to happened. With the dark evenings, this is a very serious situation.' Cllr Butler added that he is calling on Meath County Council to investigate what has happened to the lights. Sinn Fein Councillor Caroline Lynch said she had met with residents and listened to their concerns and would be 'doing her utmost to ensure that the development is complete'. She added that she had tried unsuccessfully to contact Taggart Homes and would be speaking to the planning enforcement section in Meath County Council to see if bonds were provided and if these can be used to complete the unfinished work. 'I will also speak to the public lighting dept to see if the street lighting can be connected as there are obvious health and safety concerns now that the dark evenings have arrived,' she added.