Developer levies not being shared fairly say Gorey councillors – ‘we’ve a thousand houses and we can’t afford to put a ramp there’

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

With almost a “third of the councillors”, a “third of the roads”, and more than “a third of the houses”, councillors in the Gorey Kilmuckridge Municipal District (GKMD) believe they should be getting a larger proportion of the funds being paid by developers of new housing estates in Co Wexford.

Under the Development Contribution Scheme builders are required to pay levies to Wexford County Council (WCC). These levies are then used by the council to carry out works across the county, whether on roads, public amenities, or community facilities.

However, at the June meeting of the GKMD, it was argued that that any fees paid by developers should be used to enhance the area in which the houses are being built.

Citing the area in the middle of Gorey where Creagh College, Educate Together, and the District Park are located, Councillor Darragh McDonald said he had been repeatedly told there were no funds available for traffic calming measures despite the number of new developments recently completed.

“Do those fees just go into a central fund?” he asked. “There’s 200-300 new houses been built there, can those fees be kept and put towards road safety in the area? People are looking for a ramp outside the park, but there’s no money for it. And yet people have bought their houses in good faith, they’re paying their contributions, their property taxes, and we’re telling them there’s no money for roadworks.

"So, the question is, where do those fees go? Do they go in a separate pot? They’re certainly not being spent in the Gorey district.”

Informing councillors that the scheme was currently under review, executive planner Tom Banville said there were instances where funds could be specifically ringfenced for a local community.

“There are two types of contributions: general, which go into the general pot, and special contributions where you can insert a condition in a planning application to ensure a piece of work, whether a footpath or lighting, will be carried out in that area. It’s too late to put any conditions on an estate which has already been planned for or built now. This only applies for future applications.”

“There’s a serious need for those levies to be spent in Gorey,” continued Cllr McDonald. “It’s bizarre to me that we have a thousand houses with a school and a park beside them and we can’t afford to put a ramp there.”

With the scheme under review, Mr Banville said a public consultation period will take place in the future, allowing councillors to provide feedback on its efficacy. Furthermore, they would also have the final say on the adoption of a new scheme and how monies would be allocated moving forward.

This was well received by Cllr Mary Farrell who agreed that the money needed to be spent in the relevant estates and their surrounding areas.

“The development levies should be spent where they’re needed and in the areas where they’re collected,” she said. “We have villages in Kilmuckridge where there’s a lot of housing estates so there’s a lot of development contributions, but it’s not always spent where it’s needed.”

For Cllr Joe Sullivan it boiled down to one thing.

“It’s all about transparency, it’s really simple, how much has come in per district and how much has gone back out?” he asked. “This is public money. We as councillors have a responsibility to find out where it's gone. I don’t believe we in this district are getting back as much as we’re putting in. There is money in the county but are we distributing it fairly?”

Although there are five districts in Co Wexford, Cllr Donal Kenny argued that the GKMD deserved to receive the lion’s share of any funding generated by the Development Contribution Scheme.

“We’ve a third of the council, a third of the roads, and we’re building more than a third of the houses,” he said.