Fears residents may not get access to allocated Derry homes before Christmas

The motion was put forward by The Moor Independent District Councillor Gary Donnelly at a meeting of the Council’s Governance and Strategic Planning Committee on Tuesday.

The proposal stated that Council should undertake procedures to ensure the residents – some of whom were in the Council’s public gallery on Tuesday – have access to homes immediately.

It also proposed that the Council ‘unreservedly apologises for delays, losses, and hardships caused to tenants of Woodland Park’.

The special meeting of Council will be convened on Monday next, November 13.

Colr Donnelly claimed the Council was ‘responsible for prolonging the homelessness of a large number of citizens in this district, and I think that we need to deal with that as a matter of urgency.’

City solicitor Phillip Kingston explained that the Ballynagard Community Development Project, which includes the development of social houses and an enhanced social space, was first initiated by the former Derry City Council in 2009.

Planning permission was resubmitted in 2015, but there remains some outstanding issues in relation to part of the land.

Mr Kingston said it could take a ‘significant period of time to resolve the issue, with a great deal of expense involved’.

A mediation between the Council and developers took place two weeks ago, which successfully resolved a number of outstanding issues with the project.

Mr Kingston added: ‘The Council has engaged proactively with the social housing provider, in order to offer a potential resolution and allow the houses to be occupied’.

He said that whilst there are ‘lengthy, complicated and potentially expensive’ outstanding issues in relation to the land, ‘proactive involvement is taking place to allow an interim solution and to ensure the houses are available to citizens’.

Colr. Donnelly said Council had responsibilities to the ‘considerable number’ of residents who don’t have access to their homes.

“We need to move immediately,” he said. “These residents have done nothing wrong. Some are living in bedsits, some have children living apart, all have homeless status.

”As a matter of urgency, we need them into these homes and it shouldn’t be dependant on other elements of this proposal.

"We’re coming up to Christmas, and people are sitting with their stuff boxed up.

"This will affect people’s benefits, and people have already lost money for deposits for foods and services. We cannot, in any circumstances, allow that to continue.

"We can deal with the other issues as a matter of urgency, but these people need to get into their houses.”

Ballyarnett SDLP District Councillor Brian Tierney said the houses were ‘finished’, and claimed the lack of a letter of comfort from the Council was the only thing stopping residents from accessing the houses.

Colr. Tierney said: “These are families who were excited and looking forward to having a home of their own.

"We first and foremost need to do all we can to allow a letter of comfort to allow them to get into their houses. We can deal with everything else thereafter, but we should not be standing in the way. That’s the most urgent thing we need to tackle.

"The Housing Executive has told us how difficult it is to get a home across this city and district. These people went through the process, got the house, but didn’t get the keys.”

Ballyarnett Sinn Féin District Councillor Sandra Duffy said: "I am absolutely shocked that we are at this stage,” she said. “I have been working with people who have been on the list for these houses for ten years.

"The people who got them were over the moon. They were so delighted to get the allocation. They have tilers, plumbers and painters booked, they have their children’s stuff packed up, and they’re ready to move in.

"They’re excited for Christmas and they’re being told ’no’. That’s not good enough.”

Colr. Duffy assured residents in the gallery that letters of offer for the houses would be issued after the Council meeting on Monday, and stated that the Council ‘don’t want to delay any further the wait for you to get into your homes.’

Colr. Donnelly said the process for some residents has been ‘many, many years in the making’.

“I hope that this council learns by what’s happened here, but there are still a lot of outstanding issues and we need to deal with them."

Andrew Balfour,

Local Democracy Reporter.