People often ‘don’t know’ the taking in charge process

All housing estates look forward to being “taken in charge” by their local authorities – but not all residents in those estates actually know what the concept means, Cllr Mick Dollard claimed at the May meeting of the Municipal District of Mullingar Kinnegad.

He received much support for his suggestion that as part of the taking in charge of housing estates, flyers be circulated by the municipal district to the residents of such estates explaining the process.

The written response from the executive stated that when it is proposed to take a residential estate in charge, the planning authority places an advertisement in the local paper and on all the council’s social media platforms requesting submissions on the estate to be taken in charge within a six-week timeframe.

It continued by stating that a map indicating what elements of the estate are to be taken in charge is also placed on public display on the council’s online consultation portal.

In addition, the taking in charge officer liaises with the relevant residents association, and a document entitled ‘A Guide to Taking in Charge of Completed Residential Developments’ published by the Office of the Planning Regulator is available on the council website.

Cllr Dollard countered that not everyone is involved in residents associations; lots don’t buy any of the local newspapers and they don’t identify with or relate to Mullingar at all.

“In the past, local authorities would often put flyers into houses,” he said, arguing that doing so could also help in the establishment of residents associations in areas which don’t have them, and enable the district to provide information about the Public Private Network (PPN). He said flyers could also advise people about council responsibilities and residents’ responsibilities.

Cllr Ken Glynn said he has seen at first hand the frustrations that can exist when residents don’t have the information they need, and he thought it should become policy to send out flyers when public works are being undertaken.

“We have an effective officer over the taking in charge process in the county and I’ve worked with him on a few such projects. And certainly he has been to the fore of getting the message out there by meeting residents associations – but the bigger issue is that once you get into the larger estates, they might have no residents associations. Or, I can think of one estate on the west side of Mullingar that has maybe two or three different groups because it’s just too big.”

He said it was in the council’s interest that every estate have a residents association as it made it easier to communicate with residents, while also enabling people to enjoy a greater feeling of representation.

Cllr Aoife Davitt agreed: “There are a number of estates going through this process at the moment or who will be going through it in the coming months. So it’s really important,” she said, adding that people do want to know what is happening.

Also in support of the proposal was Cllr Emily Wallace, who said it should become standard policy that such flyers go out automatically and that they should explain how to go about setting up a residents association and about the PPN.

“It’s in our interest to have good communication between our housing estates and ourselves and the council,” she said.

Director of services David Jones confirmed that there is a taking a charge officer with the council, and said that person has made great progress in a short time.

Regarding flyers, they could be looked at on a case by case basis, because in some cases there are active residents associations that text word around.