Green light for 45 new social homes in Tipperary with construction to begin next year
Plans for 45 new social and affordable homes in Tipperary have cleared a major hurdle, paving the way for construction to begin early next year.
At the December meeting of Tipperary County Council, councillors were asked to vote on plans for a social housing development in Mountain View Drive in Cahir.
The plans would see 45 social and affordable homes built on the site, and would consist of six one-bedroom apartments, two two-bedroom bungalows, 11 two-bedroom houses, 19 three-bedroom houses, six four-bedroom homes, and one five-bedroom home.
An existing public open space in the estate is set to be retained as part of the new plans, with a proposal to link this space with further linear parks within the scheme, creating a “greenway” connection for pedestrians and cyclists from Mountain View Drive and Millennium Place to the new playing pitch that is to be added to the development.
A total of 101 car parking spaces will be delivered under the council’s plans, with 31 of these allocated for visitors.
An agent for the council said that the housing development will create a strong scheme on an “important site”.
At the council’s plenary meeting, the proposal was passed, with one councillor saying the project had been “a long time coming”.
"The Mountain View Drive housing development has been a long time coming, this is a sense of déjà vu because of issues with the past planning approval,” independent councillor Máirín McGrath said.
Cllr McGrath proposed the development, with fellow independent councillor Andy Moloney seconding the proposal.
A member of the council’s housing staff said that delays with the planning process meant the local authority could work on getting the project to tender, with a contractor set to be appointed imminently.
"This project is slightly unique in that this is the second grant of planning permission, while we couldn’t do it elsewhere, we used that to our advantage to try and negate any loss of time through tendering the contract, and in the event of a successful part 8 here today, we’ll be looking to award that contract between the end of the year and January,” councillors were told.
"So the hope is that contractor would be appointed and would start construction in early 2026,” he said.
The project was brought forward under the part 8 process, where the council is the one seeking permission to build a housing development.