Councillor says community plan helps to give area that saw balcony collapse equal chance

A WATERFORD COUNCILLOR has said that a local community safety plan developed for a beleaguered part of Waterford city will be underminded if it is not fully taken into account by planners or developers.

The Waterford Local Community Safety Partnership, which was one of the country’s first three pilots, has been up and running since 2021.

One of the big projects it undertook was a study of the north-west suburbs of Waterford city.

Known as Carrickphierish, meaning Pierce’s Rock, the area was earmarked as the future of the city’s expansion before the 2008 financial crash halted plans.

Since then, local residents have had to live in unfinished apartment blocks suffering structural issues from that era.

Most notably, in March of this year, a balcony collapse at Mount Suir Manor apartments saw two children hospitalised after falling some 20ft.

A council-led review into the buildings is ongoing.

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Independent councillor Joe Kelly, who sits on the LCSP and has represented the wider area for most of the past two decades, told The Journal that the plan helps underpin changes and more “liveable” development that is needed for the community.

Kelly explained that the LCSP plan was born out of a recognition that broader aims were needed to address longstanding issues facing Carrickphierish.

“We had great plans in the 2006 period and then the economic crash happened. We were to expand the city out the north-western side and there were plans for it to come with a heart and a soul built around it, but all of that fell away,” Kelly said.

As a result, what building that taken place has been “a bit piecemeal”, leading to “fractured” development over the past decade.

“We’re playing catch-up,” Kelly said.

A 68-point action plan has been developed by the LCSP as a result, touching on everything from developing community clubs to remote work offices, with the partnership now attempting to make this a key feature of its work.

The survey of almost 80 locals found the area is viewed as lacking services and in need of development.

It noted a higher proportion of lone-parent families – at 22% – which was double that of Waterford (11.2%) and significantly higher than the state (9.9%).

Among the issues highlighted by the report and residents was that there were “relatively few opportunities” for informal social interaction and spaces for community to meet.

While a state-of-the-art library was opened in 2018, the report found that this one building wasn’t enough on its own to cater for the wider area.

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However, Kelly said he feared that planners and developers may not be required to actually heed the desires expressed by the LCSP when setting out for new housing or other developments.

“The plan the LCSP drew up adds a lot to it, but how does it fit with planning? They will cite the local area plan or whatever the national guidelines are for density, but will they look in detail at what the LCSP came up with? I’m not certain they will,” Kelly said.

The councillor added that many complaints around road safety have “fallen on deaf ears”, with a hope that the LCSP can assist to help develop the area.

Funding for dedicated teenager space

The LCSP report also found limited outdoor recreation areas and parks, including playgrounds, which the local partnership now hopes to address.

Funding worth €100,000 has been allocated to Waterford City & County Council for an outdoor ‘teen space’ in Carrickphierish, following a push by the LCSP.

Music speaker posts, sheltered areas and what is described by the council as “scattered informal seating” will be paid for with the funding.

Kelly said that any plan to make Carrickphierish a success has to look at providing “useable, liveable” space for the community.

“For a long time the complaints have been that there has been nowhere to go and no heart of the community, so this is part of trying to address that,” he said.

The Journal’s reporting of the new Local Community Safety Partnerships is supported by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.