Green Party councillor, Deirdre de Burca welcomed Wicklow County Council’s recent decision to take a number of estates in the county in charge. The taking in charge of an estate means that the council assumes legal responsibility for the maintenance and upkeep of roads, footpaths and, in many cases, public open spaces.

The estates which the council agreed to take in charge were Woodlands (Greystones), Lakelands (Rathnew), Dromont (Delgany), Valley View (Delgany), New Russian Village (Kilcoole), Ashlawn (Kilcoole), Adare Close (Killincarrig), Kindlestown Rise (Delgany), Ballyguile Mor (Wicklow) Woodside (Rathnew), and Brooklands/Hollygrove (Wicklow).

Cllr de Burca says that while she welcomes the taking in charge of these estates, most of them are concentrated in North County Wicklow. “There are many estates across the county that are years waiting to be taken in charge and the council has not yet done so” she says. “For example the council has not taken a single estate in charge in the town of Blessington since 2000, despite all the new estates that have been built there over the past twenty years”.

The Green Party councillor says that the system used by Wicklow County Council for taking estates in charge is very ad hoc. “It is not clear why some estates are taken in charge and not others” says de Burca. ”I am calling on the council to draw up a schedule of estates that it plans to take in charge over the next two year period. I also believe that the Town Councils should be asked to prepare the same kind of schedule for the taking in charge of estates in their functional areas. As councillors, we need some clarity about what estates are going to be taken in charge by the council, and if not, why not”.