Westmeath among the top performers in national report

Westmeath County Council continues to perform strongly across key service areas including housing, roads, environmental sustainability and economic development, according to the latest National Oversight and Audit Commission (NOAC) Local Authority Performance Indicators Report.

Presenting the findings to councillors, senior executive officer Anne Galvin said the 2024 report – the 11th annual NOAC performance review – covered 46 indicators across 11 categories, comparing local authorities nationwide.

Housing performance

Ms Galvin said Westmeath owned 2,362 social houses at the end of 2024, incorporating 92 new dwellings, with five sold during the year. The vacancy rate of 1.23% was the third lowest nationally, compared to the national average of 2.7%.

The average reletting time for vacant homes in Westmeath was 31.57 weeks, better than the national figure of 35.56 weeks. Reletting costs also compared favourably at €16,395 per unit, almost half the national average of €31,136.

A total of 83 social houses were retrofitted last year, close to the national average, while the county recorded a carbon emissions reduction of 560.9 tonnes, well above the national figure of 334.2 tonnes.

Roads and infrastructure

Although data for regional roads was unavailable, Ms Galvin said Westmeath had the second highest proportion nationally of local roads in the best condition, with 32.84% free of defects. Online motor tax transactions rose from 76.7% to 77.49%, and a new indicator on road opening licences showed 733 licences granted in 2024.

Climate action, environment

The report noted significant progress in environmental and climate-related areas. Westmeath had a full complement of staff working in climate action, including a coordinator and officer supported by a cross-departmental team.

Household participation in brown bin collection increased again in 2024, and 20,296 households (60%) now avail of the food and biowaste service.

Westmeath also surpassed the national average in LED public lighting, with 72.56% of lights upgraded, compared to 67% nationally.

Energy efficiency savings since 2009 stood at 33.55%, a slight increase on the previous year, though still below the national average of 40.76%. Ms Galvin cautioned that future progress may be slower as councils move on to “older, more technically difficult and costly units” to retrofit.

Planning, fire service, community

In the planning area, inspection rates improved from 16.6% in 2023 to 23.56% last year, exceeding the required minimum of 12–15%. The council achieved the highest national rate for timely fire safety cert decisions, at 94.44% completed within two months.

Of planning decisions appealed to An Bord Pleanála, 71.43% were upheld, a slight improvement on 2023.

The county’s fire service also showed gains, and 20.59% of incidents were reached within 10 minutes (up from 15.56%) and 60.7% within 20 minutes.

In community engagement, Westmeath achieved 100% school participation in Comhairle na nÓg, well ahead of the national average of 64.57%. Membership of the Public Participation Network (PPN) rose to nearly 1,000, with a higher proportion of social inclusion groups (19.92%) than the national average (15.86%).

Libraries, staff, finance

Library visits per capita stood at 3.08, above the national average of three, though slightly down due to the Kilbeggan Library closure for refurbishment and upgrade works.

At year-end, the council employed 499 whole-time equivalent staff, up by 2.76 on 2023. Sickness absence rates were broadly in line with national figures.

On finance, Ms Galvin reported that Westmeath was among the top four local authorities nationwide for overall collection rates, with 97% of commercial rates, 97% of rents and annuities, and 102% of housing loans collected.

The Local Enterprise Office (LEO) recorded exceptional results, with 185 jobs created per 100,000 population, the best performance nationally. Westmeath also led in online trading vouchers and business mentoring participation.

National trends, local credit

Nationally, local authorities owned more than 155,000 social housing units by December 2024, with more than 5,300 added during the year. The average national reletting time rose slightly to 35.56 weeks.

Councillor reactions

Cllr Ken Glynn was disappointed at the time it took to turn around vacant properties for reallocation, pointing out that it can take six months “and more”. “It’s just mad when you look at the time,” he said, asking what the cause was. Cllr Paul Hogan was also surprised at that figure – but gratified to see that the average cost of getting units back on track is just a little over €16,000, where as in neighbouring counties, the figure is in excess of €40,000.

He was disappointed that Westmeath’s housing stock had not risen by as much as had been anticipated.

He also commented that in terms of fire call-out times, Westmeath wasn’t performing as well as its neighbours, with 60.7% of calls attended within 20 minutes, and the remainder obviously after that. The national target figure, he explained, was 5 minutes and 20 seconds

Cllr Paul Hogan contended that Westmeath should be pushing to get the word out over its web success: it had 65 million clicks in terms of website views.

Cllr Denis Leonard said that central government is not supplying sufficient funds for retrofitting.

Cllr Alfie Devine said it is taking a lot longer in this area than 32-week turnaround. “I’m looking at houses that have been sitting there for as long as I’ve [been on Westmeath County Council] and that’s a year or more.

“I think we need a panel of contractors – a minimum or two or three, where if the main contractor hasn’t got the ability or the manpower to do works in certain parts of the county, that we’d get someone else, as simple as that.”

Cllr Johnnie Penrose agreed with Cllr Devine on the turnaround time, saying he is constantly asking about houses that have been vacant for over 12 months. “And it costs more to do them up when they’re left there 12 months,” he said.

The cathaoirleach, Cllr Aoife Davitt, felt it was important to note the positives in the document, such as the increase in new homes.

Responding to the queries over house turnaround times, Jackie Finney, director of services, said that a total of 44 properties were returned last year. This year, to date, the council have turned around 45. “There is one property which is over 12 months at this point in time, and at that property, significant works were required; and then we have 21 properties which are over six months, and we’re working on those.”

She said some of them were properties which came back to the council after a long period of time of being tenanted and they do require significant works. Some with which it is currently contending, require over €80,000 or €100,000 of repairs.