Locals object to housing estate being taken in charge by Laois County Council

INDEPENDENT cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley said that the council’s bid to take in charge a housing in Portlaoise is being delayed by a number of people objecting to the move.

At the February meeting of Portlaoise Municipal District Council she asked what progress had been made and for an update on the council’s plans to take in charge Broomville Close in the Fieldbrook area of the town.

In answer to her queries the council’s director of services Simon Walton said: “In April 2024, following discussions at Portlaoise Municipal District meeting, a public notice was published, stating Laois County Council’s intention to take all remaining areas in charge in the Broomville/Fieldbrook Estates. The taking in charge has not proceeded, arising from objections raised by some residents to the proposed taking in charge.” 

Mr Walton said the objections and signed petitions that had been submitted relate to the Fieldbrook Drive and the Broomville sections in the estate.

“There are some fears expressed that an entrance would be provided some time in the future with the adjoining lands. I don’t foresee that that will ever happen.” 

Cllr Dwane Stanley said: “I am not disrespecting the people who raised concerns but the vast majority of residents living in the area want the council to take the estates in charge. It’s 23-years on since the residents first sought to get the estate taken in charge. In Broomville Lawns it’s 25-years.” 

“There’s subsidence in the middle of the roads. There’s potholes getting bigger. Footpaths are not safe. There’s broken kerbs all around the area. Parts of the footpaths are sinking. Parking in the area is so bad that the residents have to park up on green areas,” said cllr Dwane Stanley.

She said: “But nothing can be done in the estates until they are taken in charge. I think it’s very unfair that the rest of the estates are held to ransom because others have concerns about what might take place at a later stage with an adjoining field. I’ll have no problem going back to the residents are asking that the majority of them draw up their own petition asking that the estates be taken in charge. We can’t allow a situation where progress is held up because somebody has a fear that a field at the back of them may be built on.” 

Mr Walton said that last April the council acknowledged all the issues that needed to be addressed in the estates and advertised that it was planning to take them in charge, adding: “And we’re willing to take them in charge, subject to the agreement of the elected representatives. So if it’s the will of the elected representatives that all of the areas (Broomville Court, Broomville Lawns, Broomville Close and Fieldbrook Drive) be brought in front of the full council in March, I am happy to do that.” 

Cllr Catherine Fitzgerald said: “This has been going on for far too long and it’s been really unfair to the residents. The entire estate needs an awful lot of work done to it.”