Supporting growth in Castletroy comes at risk of creating inequalities elsewhere, councillor claims

INDEPENDENT councillor Elena Secas wants a dedicated supplementary development contribution scheme for Castletroy...

INDEPENDENT councillor Elena Secas wants a dedicated supplementary development contribution scheme for Castletroy to provide necessary infrastructure and community facilities to support the area’s significant growth.

Speaking at the September Metropolitan District meeting, Cllr Secas took the view that as the Council keeps approving major developments in Castletroy, it must also have a clear mechanism to deliver the infrastructure that all those developments require.

“The wider area of Castletroy has experienced extraordinary growth, but infrastructure has not kept pace at all, with the impact of rapid housing growth being huge on our roads, public transport, school provision to cater for the increase in the population, childcare facilities, lack of a permanent library or a Garda station, community or youth centre, or recreation facilities,” the City East representative declared.

According to Cllr Secas, the gap between housing delivery and the infrastructure and services needed in Castletroy is growing year after year.

“We cannot simply keep building houses without building the infrastructure around it. That’s why I am asking for a Section 49 supplementary development contribution scheme for the wider Castletroy area, similar to the Section 49 scheme relating to the R526 Link Road Phase 3 in Mungret a few years ago,” she added.

Fine Gael councillor Peter Doyle supported Cllr Secas’ motion and said there was an urgent need for a proper public realm plan for Castletroy.

“We as a group of councillors are left fighting for a Garda Station, for a library, for an extra park. I think the Council, to a certain extent, need to wake up and smell the coffee here and see the amount of houses that are built in the Castletroy area,” Cllr Doyle commented.

Sinn Féin councillor Sharon Benson said she fully understood the spirit of the motion, but warned of an unintended consequence of the motion that could be “very disastrous” for Limerick City North.

“We are highly constrained out in Limerick City North with the flood maps in terms of development and growth. We were actually stagnant out there for a number of years. I just think that doing this could have a negative impact on communities,” she said.

Cllr Daniel Butler (FG) also opposed the motion and deemed it a “very dangerous precedent”. He took the view that keeping money in a relatively wealthy area could be to the detriment of another area of the city, suggesting the motion “creates a greater potential to create greater inequalities across our city and county”.

Also opposing, Cllr Dan McSweeney (FG) said he felt the motion has unintended consequences for the wider Limerick Metropolitan District.

Following the meeting, Cllr Secas told the Limerick Post she was disappointed to see the lack of support from some councillors in the chamber, especially when some had never objected to the Section 49 scheme in Mungret when that was agreed.

“While I appreciate their concerns regarding the impact such a scheme for Castletroy will have on other areas, they referenced the need to share resources between all areas, but the question is: where is, in fact, the share for Castletroy especially that most of the houses are being built in Castletroy?” she asked.

In response, the Council said that the establishment of a dedicated supplementary development contribution scheme for the wider Castletroy area would require the identification and costings of specific infrastructure projects, that are not included in the Section 48 scheme, and the definition of the geographic area to which the scheme would apply.