Planning permission granted by Waterford County Council for construction of 56 houses in Fenor has been described by a dissenting councillor as ‘a slap in the face’ for residents of an estate in Tramore who have long standing grievances against the developer concerned.
Independent Councillor Joe Conway, one of only four members to oppose the decision, said people living in Doneraile Woods in Tramore had been left exasperated by the builder’s failure to respond to their demands over nearly four years for their leafy estate to be finished.
“They have been striving since 2006 to get the same builder to complete their estate but instead of insisting that he does that first, the Council has gone ahead and given him the green light to develop in Fenor a scheme which I consider inappropriate for the area”, he complained.
By way of explanation, he said the Fenor plan, subject to the outcome of an appeal to An Bord Pleanala, was for the 56 houses to be built ‘cheek by jowl’ with the local bog, a specially protection area. “But in any event”, he argued, “it doesn’t seem fitting that a scheme of such size should be permitted in a hamlet like Fenor, with a population of only about 200 people.”
The Doneraile Woods residents have been seeking to have a boundary wall built and complain that other such walls already constructed are unsightly and dangerous, with loose plinths falling from them. They describe landscaping as substandard and unacceptable and some footpaths as uneven. They are also concerned over public lighting, sewers and pipe blockages and what they describe generally as eyesores and health hazards on their estate.
Cllr Conway said some of the problems have existed for four years and the frustrated residents seemed no closer to getting them sorted.
