Council pushes ahead with housing projects in Ballina
Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage Darragh O'Brien TD officially open Rehins Fort in Ballina with Minister Dara Calleary TD, Alan Dillion TD, Cllr Annie May Reape, Cllr Jarlath Munnelly, Cllr John O'Hara, Cllr Mark Duffy and Cllr Michael Loftus. Picture: John O'Grady
Some 17 new families and individuals in North Mayo applied for the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) in November, a meeting of Ballina Municipal District heard last week.
Head of the Municipal District, Declan Turnbull, informed councillors that two of the 17 were processed last month and the remainder since then. At the end of November, there were 11 vacant houses in the council stock and four of those have been offered to people while the rest are being refurbished and they had one refusal.
Mr Turnbull told councillors they only had two homelessness cases in November and it was a reduction on previous months.
He said they had 14 grants approved for people who accessed the Housing Adaption Grant and the Mobility Adaption Grant.
Mr Turnbull said it was positive that Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien conducted the opening of the new 50-unit Rehins Fort social housing development last month.
He then provided an update on the council's construction programme, explaining that Church Manor is at Part 8 planning stage and progress is being made to move that towards development.
Mr Turnbull said six houses in Castlefield Manor are at ‘pre-stage’ and several developments are at stage one approval including 24 units at the Duffy’s bakery site, 15 units at The Meadows and 66 units at the old Cheshire Home site.
Meanwhile, he said the Killala Town Centre fFrst plan has also been completed and a few minor additions need to be made before it will be circulated in early 2024.
