'Unfinished' estate in Cork 'doesn’t have potholes but craters'

Anger is mounting among residents of ‘unfinished estates’ in Co Cork who say they are paying full Local Property Tax (LPT) but getting nothing in return.

They claim their roads remain cratered, street lights unlit, and that water and sewerage systems regularly fail.

Cork County Council is calling on finance minister Simon Harris to release additional funding so the local authority can bring these estates up to a standard that would allow them to be ‘taken in charge’, after which the council would assume responsibility for most of their upkeep.

Several councillors have highlighted the growing anger they are hearing from residents in such estates. 

They have been told by council officials that the authority cannot take over running them until they are officially brought under local authority control, as insurance restrictions prevent the council from assuming responsibility beforehand.

Independent councillor Ger Curley said there is “utter frustration” among residents at the lack of maintenance and upkeep in estates across the county.

Many have seen developers go bust without finalising infrastructure and the bonds (insurance) they have paid to the council to carry out the unfinished works are too small to pay for the work needed.

He said the Ballynoe estate in Cobh “doesn’t have potholes, but craters".

It was built 30 years ago but the developer “went bust” and didn’t finish it.

Mr Curley said other estates in that area were in the same position and “the residents deserve better".

He initially stated that a waiver should be put on LPT payments for residents in these situations but pulled back from that when senior council officials said they had reduced revenue for projects if that happened.

Labour councillor Cathal Rasmussen said the cost of repairing such estates will only continue to grow and the Government needs to act now or it will cost significantly more in the long run.

“We’re being contacted all the time by people wondering why they’re paying LPT,” he said.

Fianna Fáil councillor Sheila O’Callaghan said a worrying development came to her attention from a constituent in an unfinished estate.

She said a finance company refused to provide a mortgage to a buyer until Uisce Éireann provided it with a definitive timeline to take over the running of wastewater services treatment plants (WWTP) there.

“I'm very concerned that if lending institutions require confirmation of the status of an estate and its WWTP that this will seriously hinder purchases and sales of homes throughout the county,” she said.

The council is unable to take estates in charge if Uisce Éireann doesn't take over WWTP services. There is a large backlog in it doing so.