Consultation - Phase 2 Information Meetings-Nov 1999 (Report NM)
Initial Information Meetings – November, 1999.
This report was written by Noel Martin, Regeneration Liaison Officer, Ballymun Housing Task Force.
Meetings were held in Stormanstown House
In all there were five separate meetings to cater for the estimated 400 tenants of the flats in the Phase 2 areas, which have been identified as:
1. Thomas Clarke Tower - 90 Flats - - 1 N.Q.
2. Sean McDermott Tower - 90 Flats - 2 Vacant - 2 N.Qs
3. 1-93 Balcurris Road - 90 Flats - -
4. 94 -187 Balcurris Road - 90 Flats - -
5. 49 - 128 Silloge Avenue - 80 Flats (3a&3b).
Prior to the meetings taking place, Ballymun Regeneration Ltd produced a draft of an information brochure. Following discussion with the Manager and staff of BHTF, the draft was amended and sent households in the Phase 2 areas.
The first meeting with the tenants began on November1 . This was primarily for the tenants in Thomas Clarke Tower and was held in Stormanstown House.
At this meeting and at all subsequent meetings the main speaker was Eamonn Farrelly for Ballymun Regeneration Ltd who was assisted in dealing with technical questions by one of the BRL team of architects.
As Ballymun Housing Task Force Secretary and Regeneration Liaison Worker, I attended and spoke at the meetings, with the particular emphasis on seeking tenant participation in the housing design process.
Also attending were the local Dublin Corporation Estate officers, representatives of the Corporation Housing Unit and other staff members of BRL and Dublin Corporation. Their particular responsibility was to help the tenants in filling in the first questionnaires of the housing allocation process.
Each meeting lasted approximately two hours and did not conclude until it was clear that anyone who wished to ask questions had the opportunity to do so. All questions put to the BRL speakers were answered. The only area of major contention was around the areas indicated for the new-build, all of which are within approximately a maximum of 800 yards from where the tenants are presently located. There was also some unease regarding apartments rather than houses being allocated to lone parents with one or possibly two children.
Tenants who attended the meetings also indicated that they had read the information brochure and found it helpful. The average attendance at each meeting was 38/40 tenants or 43% of the tenants.
House Designs
The presentation and designs of most of the architects were, in my opinion, of a very high standard.
In particular the presentation by Sean Harrington of Howley Harrington Architects and Gardner Associates (Silloge 3a & 3b) was impressive and resulted in applause by the residents who are members of the design team. The use of a 3D-computer presentation with models of the dwellings was very innovative. It was also impressive that most of the architects clearly studied the site allocated to them and attempted to ensure that issues such as the use of sunlight and the necessity of planting semi-mature trees were explained.
There was a question about housing of travellers from the halting site in Poppintree five and the proposed road to the halting site.
A major problem arose after the initial meetings in November. From the five meetings there were approximately fifteen volunteers for the design committees. However when this was broken down into the number of sites, it emerged that some of the design teams have too small a number of ‘end user’ tenants to constitute a representative sample.
In spite of the best efforts of the Task Force and BRL to involve more tenants in the design of their houses, there was insufficient involvement of tenants in the following design consultation committees: Poppintree 3 – 4 and 5 sites and also Balcurris 3 and 4 sites.
The sites identified above are those where there was insufficient involvement of the tenants in the design teams. The BHTF Manager and myself had therefore no choice but to inform BRL that we would need to make further efforts to involve local tenants before a public meeting could be convened to examine the designs in detail.
Meetings were convened for those residents who had applied for the sites that had insufficient representation. This change in the scheduled meetings had the effect of fast tracking to some degree the consultation process in a democratic manner.
This page was updated on 21st September, 2005