Paul O’Brien, a Labour Party candidate in the local elections for the Wicklow municipal area, has called on the council to engage with the residents of Mountainview Drive and Sycamore Drive in Newtownmountkennedy after news emerged that the council plans to build up to 27 houses on the only green area in the estate.
Meeting with the chairmen of the resident associations, Fran Martin and Michael Coughlan to discuss the matter, O’Brien went onto say, “The residents are furious because they haven’t even been consulted about the location of the houses, we all acknowledge that more social housing is badly required but not at any cost and on the only green area where the children play”.
Fran Martin, Chairman of the residents association in Mountainview added that “We have maintained the area for years now ourselves and the council didn’t even have the decency to consult with us, if these houses are built the children will have nowhere safe to play”. Fran went onto echo what O’Brien stated about the need for more social housing units but appealed for some common sense to prevail.
O’Brien concluded by saying that he fully supports the residents and has vowed to work with them so that a reasonable solution can be found and he appealed to the council to engage in meaningful dialogue with the residents
