Residents of Cormack Drive and St Conlon's Road have secured a High Court date.

Fundraising appeal by residents over housing project

Published: Sat 17 Oct 2020, 9:41 AM

Last updated: Sat 17 Oct 2020, 10:44 AM

Local residents have launched a GoFundMe campaign to cover legal costs in their case against the construction of 12 council houses in Nenagh's Cormack Drive estate.

It is understood that residents of Cormack Drive and St Conlon's Road have secured a High Court date of December 1st for their case against Tipperary Co Council. The residents are seeking to have construction of the houses stopped on grounds that the plan is in breach of an agreement made with the old Nenagh Urban District Council, and that the Part 8 planning process was flawed.

“The council seems to be forcing this building ahead,” St Conlon's Road residents’ representative Andrew Fahy said this week. “If the council was acting in a decent manner or had the courage of their convictions that they are right, they would not need to press ahead and effectively vandalise the green spaces in that estate; they would wait to have the matter dealt with in the High Court.

“That would show some respect to the residents, rather than ploughing through previous agreements and residents’ rights in the aggressive manner they've shown.”

Mr Fahy added: “At a time of national crisis, with Covid-19, a killer disease and the biggest threat to life in a hundred years, the council sees fit to get rid of vital green space, which has never been more important to preserve than now. This reiterates the emphasis made by three former UDC chairmen of the need to preserve existing green space in housing estates for the mental and physical welfare of residents.

“The council's illegal actions should be reversed. The residents committees are asking the public to keep up their strong support of residents’ rights in the Cormack Drive campaign and, if possible, to subscribe to the GoFundMe fundraiser on Facebook, or by direct donation to the residents’ representatives to allay the cost of the legal fees,” Mr Fahy said.

Meanwhile, local councillor Séamie Morris has asked the council to suspend works in the estate pending the outcome of the case. “The taxpayers of the county will be liable for the cost of taking down the buildings and the cost of the site being reinstated should the council lose.”