Sod turned on significant new social housing scheme in Westport

UP AND RUNNING Minister of State Michael Ring launches a sod to get Phase Two of the Tubber Hill housing development underway in Westport last Friday. He is joined by Mayo County Council Chief Executive Peter Hynes; Director of Services Tom Gilligan; Head of Housing for Mayo, Paul Benson; Senator Rose Conway-Walsh; Cathaoirleach Al McDonnell; Cllr Tereasa McGuire; Fr Charlie McDonnell; Rev Val Rodgers; contractors, locals, officials from the Department of Housing and staff members of the housing and architect’s departments of Mayo County Council. Pic: Michael McLaughlin

Neill O'Neill

THE crane on the skyline at the Tubber (Tober) Hill site of the new primary care centre in Westport will soon be joined by another, after the sod was turned on a new €5.5 million housing development on the adjacent section of land last Friday.
Phase Two of the Tubberhill housing development will see 21 social housing units constructed on lands at Tubberhill, adjacent to the Town Greenway and looking out at Croagh Patrick. The cost of the scheme including land is €5.5m and the construction work is being undertaken by Castlebar-based Mountain View Securities. Phase One of the development consisted of 43 units constructed in 2008 and occupied from 2009 onwards.
On a sunny Friday morning, Minister of State for Regional Economic Development, Michael Ring, dug the earth to get the project officially underway. When completed, the woks will add 21 units to the existing complex, comprising apartments and houses ranging in size from four bedrooms to one bedroom. There is expected to be significant employment created during the build phase.
Speaking at the launch, Minister Ring recognised the contribution of the council to Westport and lauded their foresight in buying land, which they might not have always had plans for.
“This development and phase one, along with the health centre, would not have happened if the county council had not the foresight to invest in it,” he said, outlining many of the projects that are ongoing in Mayo at present, and noting that more cranes will be appearing across the county.
“My job is to make sure that we get our fair share of the national cake and I welcome the Department of Housing here today, and we need more houses, there is a lot of things happening in the county but we would like to see more.”

Priority
Mayo County Council Chief Executive, Peter Hynes, said it is great to see a project start and Westport again leading the way.
“One of the priorities that we identified some months ago was housing, along with climate change and flooding and we restructured to reflect these challenges and our housing team was set up, under Paul Benson, to lead this charge and ensure that the type of crisis that has debilitated many of our large urban centres does not happen in Mayo. We hope to see some happy homes and families here,” he said, thanking the council team who had vested so much into the development.
Director of Services, Tom Gilligan, also paid complements to the work of Paul Benson and his staff, and the Council’s Architect’s Department. He added that the local authority have been working closely with colleagues in the HSE to ensure the housing development and the primary care centre are developed in tandem.

Significant
He also took the opportunity to commend the work of all the Tidy Towns groups in West Mayo, congratulating them on their most recent successes.
Cathaoirleach of Mayo County Council, Al McDonnell, described the funding as ‘a significant allocation in difficult times’.
“I have to acknowledge the contribution to this by Minister Ring, and it is great to see cranes in the sky, they have been gone long enough,” he said.
Bringing proceedings to a close and after a blessing was performed by Fr Charlie McDonnell and RevVal Rodgers, Paul Benson revealed that work on housing in Mayo is in  no way confined to this new development in Westport, as work will soon be underway on housing in Ballina, Kockmore, Knock, Kilmeena, Newport, Swinford, Foxford, Glenamoy and Ballinrobe.