Mr. David Creighton:

I thank the Chairman and members. I am a senior architect in Kildare County Council and have been in the housing department since 2014.

By way of background information, St. Patrick’s Park is a local authority estate constructed in a number of phases from the late 1970s. Originally remote from the centre of Rathangan, the town has now developed out to and beyond St. Patrick’s Park. Kildare County Council has also developed social housing on lands in its ownership at Beechgrove, closer to the town centre, and it owns land zoned for housing between both St. Patrick’s Park and Beechgrove. In this regard, I refer members to the Rathangan small town land use zoning map 2023-2029, which is document No. 1 of the supporting information we have provided to the committee.

There are currently no proposals to develop the existing adjoining lands in Kildare County Council’s ownership zoned for housing between St. Patrick’s Park and Beechgrove. With reference to development of adjoining private lands, a search of planning applications in the vicinity identifies the following: planning application ref. 06-2517, by Dundian Limited, for 272 residential units, crèche and retail units. This application does not make reference to access through St. Patrick’s Park or lands in Kildare County Council ownership. This application does not appear to have progressed and may have been superseded by application ref. 06-2667, also by Dundian Limited, for 250 residential units, crèche and retail units.

The application does not make reference to access through St. Patrick’s Park or lands in Kildare County Council ownership. A site location map and site plan are included with the supporting information which shows the location of the proposed development and the proposed site layout. The committee can refer to documents Nos. 2 and 3 of the supporting information in that regard. The proposed site layout does not indicate any connection to St. Patrick's Park or to the adjacent lands in Kildare County Council’s ownership. The application was granted.

Planning application ref. 14-1036 was an extension application to extend the duration of application ref. 06-2667. This extension application was refused. The supporting information includes land use zoning maps for Rathangan between 2002 and 2023 and the committee can refer to document No. 4 of the supporting documentation in that regard. It can be seen from the 2017-2023 land use zoning map for Rathangan that the lands included in the site referred to in planning application ref. 06-2667 is no longer zoned for residential purposes. This is also the case for the land use zoning map included in the draft county development plan 2023-2029. The draft county development plan is up for approval. There is reference to this point in the petition as follows:

It then came to my attention that KCC had given full planning permission to a private developer for 300 houses in our area and he had no proper access and I thought KCC was planning to give access through our estate. I challenged KCC on this and it became public then KCC put a press release on Kildare FM local radio stating they had withdrawn permission from the developer and would not be giving any further planning permission that land was sold later.

This statement does not appear to be substantiated by the planning application information set out and further information in relation to this claim should be provided. Kildare County Council would not have the power to withdraw a planning permission once granted and from the information available in connection with planning application ref. 06-2667, it appears as if this planning permission expired and the applicant was not successful in having the permission extended.

The completed estate at St. Patrick’s Park suffers from poor overall estate design, a lack of passive surveillance, inadequate public open space and insecure back lane access. One of the key drivers for the current proposals for the estate is the provision of good-quality, public open space which is well overlooked. We anticipate that the provision of a well-designed public open space will serve as a popular and well-used recreation and meeting space for all residents of the estate. This will foster a sense of community, cohesion and an awareness of place and inclusion.

In respect of the background to the current proposals, in July 2011, Kildare County Council received confirmation of approval in principle and a provisional budget for a remedial works scheme in St. Patrick’s Park, Rathangan. This approval followed a submission by Kildare County Council on foot of a call from the then Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government for applications from local authorities under the remedial works scheme. St. Patrick’s Park was selected by Kildare County Council as a suitable estate due to the poor design of the estate, the lack of good-quality public open space and the overall condition of the estate at the time. Photographs are attached which show the condition of parts of the estate from 2010. Those are referred to as documents Nos. 5 and 6 in the supporting information. The photographs show the evidence of antisocial behaviour that existed at the time.

The approval received in July 2011 acknowledged the intention to purchase existing private dwellings within the estate should they become available to purchase. A number of private owners had expressed an interest in selling their dwellings and Kildare County Council acquired these dwellings where there was an intention to incorporate those dwellings into the remedial works scheme. No private owners were coerced into selling their properties. There are still a significant number of private owners within the estate. All private dwellings purchased by Kildare County Council were purchased on the basis of the open market valuation at the time of purchase.

Initial proposals to remediate the estate included the demolition of a significant number of dwellings, almost the entire southern section of the estate, and the building of a new perimeter block of housing to the south overlooking a new public open space. Various design options were discussed with the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Design proposals have changed over time to reflect budget constraints and a desire to reduce the number of existing dwellings to be demolished while retaining the objective of addressing the poor design of the estate. The proposals for the development of the estate are included in the supporting information in the form of a presentation given to the elected members of the Kildare-Newbridge municipal district, which is document No. 7 in the supporting information. There is no current proposal to provide road access through St. Patrick's Park to the adjoining lands in Kildare County Council’s ownership. A single controlled gated access point is proposed to address the ongoing removal of existing fencing and uncontrolled access to the adjoining lands from the back lane which is resulting in antisocial behaviour and environmental issues.

Since receiving approval in principle for the remedial works scheme in 2011, Kildare County Council has carried out a number of improvement works to the estate. These include the demolition of five vacant and damaged dwellings that had suffered significantly from antisocial behaviour. Photographs have been provided as document Nos. 5 and 6 in the supporting information to verify this. The impact of antisocial behaviour in the estate at the time was a contributing factor to St. Patrick’s Park being selected for inclusion in the remedial works scheme. The inclusion of St. Patrick's Park in the remedial works scheme followed a site visit from an inspector from the Department at the time.

The council has also taken on substantial surface water remedial works to address localised flooding in the estate. It has also engaged in refurbishment of, and energy upgrade works to, 34 occupied and vacant units in the upper part of the estate. This has been referred to as phase 1 of the remedial works scheme and was completed in late 2019. The council has also installed new perimeter fencing. These works have significantly improved the overall appearance of the estate compared with 2010, prior to receiving approval under the remedial works scheme.

A Part 8 application was launched on 4 November 2022 for phases 2 and 3 of the remedial works scheme. Existing and proposed site plans for the proposed Part 8 development are included with the supporting information in documents Nos. 8 and 9. The proposed development includes the demolition of 15 units, 12 of which are in the centre of the estate; the construction of seven new units at key locations within the estate; the refurbishment of, and energy efficiency upgrade works for, 17 vacant units; refurbishment of, and energy efficiency upgrade works for, eight occupied units; and the provision of landscaped and overlooked public open space.

Public workshop meetings were held with local residents in Rathangan library in March 2020, just prior to the Covid-19 lockdown, to present those proposals and a number of amendments have been made to reflect comments that were received at that time. A briefing on the updated proposed Part 8 was given to the elected members of the Kildare-Newbridge municipal district on 21 September 2022. Following that briefing, an information leaflet was distributed to residents in the estate. Also included was an invitation to attend public workshop meetings in Rathangan library on 12 October 2022. A number of residents attended those meetings and feedback on the proposed development was positive. The petitioner was unable to attend so a private meeting was subsequently arranged for the petitioner and another individual in Kildare County Council offices. The one and a half hour meeting held with the petitioner is one of four private meetings held with a small group of local residents from St. Patrick’s Park, including the petitioner, over recent years. Three meetings were held in Kildare County Council offices in Naas and a further meeting was held on site in St. Patrick's Park. One-to-one meetings were held with residents of St. Patrick's Park in Kildare County Council offices at the outset of the scheme. A public meeting was held at Rathangan Community Centre at the early stages of the development. In addition to these meetings, there has been a number of leaflet drops updating residents on the proposed development of St. Patrick’s Park.

Nine supporting documents were included in my submission to the committee.