Council look for more time to spend grant
The matter was initially raised by Cllr Madeleine Argue at last September's meeting of the Cavan Belturbet Municipal District Authority.
Cavan County Council'S Housing Department has asked the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government for an extension of time to complete refurbishment works on 29 vacant houses in the local authority's ownership so it does not have to hand back a significant portion of a €1M grant.
The request comes as the deadline to spend the money on repairing the council's housing stock looms. Last September funding of €969,000 was allocated to the Council under the Voids Stimulus Programme 2020 by the Department.
The funding is specifically for the refurbishment of 71 vacant units. Stipulated in the conditions of the grant is that the work on the units is completed and claimed by Friday, December 4, 2020. Cavan County Council say it expects work on 42 units to be completed and claimed by that date.
A spokesperson for the council said:
“We have indicated to the Department that the remaining 29 units will be tendered prior to the December 4 and will be completed in Q1, 2021. We are awaiting their final approval for this proposal.
“In addition to the 71 units targeted under this Stimulus Programme, the Council has an additional 29 vacant units in need of work to make them available,” the local authority statement said.
The matter was initially raised by Cllr Madeleine Argue at last September's meeting of the Cavan Belturbet Municipal District Authority.
Cllr Argue (FG) was one of a number of elected representatives who criticised the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government's short time frame to have works completed.
However she welcomed the funding under the July Stimulus Package:
“It's good news that we are getting over €969,000,” she said. At the meeting Cllr Peter McVitty said a member of the council's housing staff should attend MD meetings to inform the elected members about the progress of such an important project.
Cllr Sean Smith (FF) remarked on the short deadline, and queried if Cavan had a sufficient number of builders available to complete the work in the limited timeframe.
Director of Services, Planning, Community & Economic Development, Brendan Jennings, said that the funding was “very positive news”, while acknowledging the concerns of the members about the deadline.
Mr Jennings said: “staff are anxious that every bit of this expenditure is maximised.”
Cathaoirleach Brendan Fay said it was imperative that an appeal is made to the government for an extension: “There is no way 71 houses could be done by the December deadline. We definitely don't want the money going back to central government when it is so desperately needed.”