Concern for €13m Navan project ahead of budget

Growing fears are being expressed this week that the major €13 million refurbishment project for a Navan local authority housing estate may be a victim of impending Government cutbacks. Residents of Townparks were bracing themselves for bad news concerning the long-promised upgrade project as indications increased of an extremely harsh mid-October budget which is expected to see the Government impose harsh cuts in spending. Navan Area councillors, Jim Holloway and Joe Reilly, both fear the long-promised remedial works scheme at Townparks and other planned work at Ashbrook and flatlets at St Brigid"s Villas and St Ultan"s Terrace, could be at risk. Their comments follow a circular from the Dept of the Environment & Local Government to Meath County Council requesting that all new applications for funding be put on hold. Cllr Reilly said Townparks had been on the agenda for work for the past 15 years and Ashbrook for about five years. Townparks was Navan"s 'forgotten estate' while, in Ashbrook, some houses were not compatible with 21st century living, he said. The Townparks" estate, with some 143 houses, has been scheduled for a number of years to obtain a complete refurbishment. The works to be done include provision of 12 new houses, a resource centre, refurbishment of the existing houses, landscaping, construction of walls and work on roads and footpaths. The Sinn Fein councillor said residents of Townparks had met consultants on a number of occasions and reached agreement on design and numbers of houses. 'It"s the scheme as agreed with the residents that I want to go ahead,' said Cllr Reilly. However, he admitted he was 'apprehensive' about whether this would now go ahead. Fine Gael Cllr Holloway, meanwhile, asked whether the Remedial Works Scheme for Townparks had been abandoned or whether the money was not there now to do this work. Cllr Holloway said this scheme had been promised two local elections past and in the most recent general election. 'Right now, Meath County Council has a contractor on site installing central heating', he said. It appeared that local authority tenants had been once again betrayed by Government, despite the efforts of the staff of Meath County Council to make the best of totally inadequate resources, complained Cllr Holloway. Louth Sinn Fein TD Arthur Morgan had asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, John Gormley, on Cllr Reilly"s behalf, whether he would confirm that Townparks would receive the €14 million commited by his Department to Meath County Council under the 2008 Remedial Works Scheme. Minister for State at the Department, Michael Finneran, said a pre-tender budget cost in the sum of €13,952,176 had been approved for the project. A tender report was due to be submitted to his department shortly for consideration. Mr Finneran added that, in the absence of an approved tender at this stage, it was not possible to determine the level of funding to be made available for the project in 2009 for Townparks. Meath County Council also must contribute funding of an estimated €3 million towards the Townparks project. Early hints of disappointment for the Townparks tenants came in a circular from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government at the September meeting of Meath County Council. A department official requested that all new applications for funding should be held by local authorities until such time as the official "call" was made for proposals. The "call" for proposals, normally issued at this time of year, has been postponed. Proposals already received were to be held, councillors heard, in the department and would be considered under the new call. Meath County Council spokesman Bill Sweeney this week said the Townparks scheme was proceeding to contract stage. 'At that stage, we would have to have an allocation of funding before signing the contract,' he explained. He commented that a lot of confusion and misinformation had emerged with regard to the scheme. He explained that the other Navan planned schemes, Ashbrook, St Brigid"s Villas and St Ultan"s Terrace, were 'in the early stages'. The issue of Ashbrook, St Brigid"s Villas and St Ultan"s Terrace was raised by Deputy Morgan for Cllr Reilly also. He asked would these locations be considered for remedial work schemes next year. Mr Finneran said his department currently was seeking applications for new remedial works projects to be undertaken and funded over the next three years. He said: 'I understand that Meath County Council will be submitting projects relating to the locations concerned for consideration under this call for proposals. The closing date for project submissions is 30th October 2008.' Voicing concern about Ashbrook and the other two locations, Cllr Holloway said he had 'repeatedly called for a scheme to refurbish this estate and I find it intolerable that this has not been done'. The FG councillor said it was 'intolerable that this estate has been allowed to deteriorate, despite the great efforts of tenants to maintain their houses and keep the area safe'.