Joe Behan - Independent Councillor - Wicklow County Council

Ban on Surface Dressing in Housing Estates in Bray, Enniskerry and Kilmacanogue
10th November 2016

The residents of Sugarloaf Crescent, Mountainview Drive, Seacrest, Charnwood, Herbert Park and Glenwood expressed their anger about the condition of the roads in their estates at the Council Meeting on Tuesday night last.

I fully agree with the sentiments expressed by the deputation led by Patricia O'Leary and Jack Kehoe and I proposed that this cheap and unsatisfactory method of resurfacing roads within the urban estates in the Bray Municipal District never be used again.

I also proposed that Wicklow County Council be asked to return some of the millions of Euro in capital funds which was transferred to them from Bray Town Council in 2014. This money should be then be used to put a proper surface on the roads in the above estates and on other vital capital projects in the Bray Municipal District.

I believe the people of Bray and indeed all of County Wicklow have been ripped off by this Government which has imposed a painful Property Tax on all householders while reducing the funds available to Councils to undertake the works that need to be done in all parts of the county. This reduction in funding leads to the type of unsatisfactory road surfaces in the six estates whose residents were represented at the Council Meeting on Tuesday night last.

It is completely unacceptable that taxpayers should be treated in this manner and I welcome the support my proposal received from a majority of Councillors at the meeting.

I congratulate the residents of the estates affected for their persistence and determination in making their case and I will continue to press for a permanent solution to this unacceptable situation.

Cllr. Joe Behan
Independent