Category Archives: Naas
Local Elections in Naas
On Friday 23rd May you will have the opportunity to elect new councillors to Kildare County Council. This opportunity only comes around once every five years. It will determine who will represent you in the council chamber until 2019. These councillors will be responsible for deciding the course of local government policy across Kildare during those years.
This year, the local elections in Naas will be different than in previous elections. In Naas town and surrounding areas, you will be represented by 9 county councillors who will form the new Naas Municipal District Council – a sort of sub district of Kildare County Council. There is a new structure brought in by the Government. It represents a radical change from what we would be familiar with. The main difference in 2014 is the abolition of Naas Town Council. Local government for Naas will now fall under the authority of Kildare County Council.
No Water Meters for Older Naas Estates
Pacelli Road is one of the estates where water meters aren’t being installed.
Irish Water have been busy installing water meters across Naas for the past few months, however it looks as though they will now move on leaving many properties still un-metered. In some of the older parts of Naas, Irish Water did not install meters due to the nature of the pipework and so those residents will instead now receive estimated bills.
The problem had been raised with me by residents in the Sarto and Pacelli road areas and I’ve started to investigate this. A few people contacted me to say that Irish Water had been around but had not been able or perhaps not willing to put a meter into their houses. The problem with that is then people can only receive estimated bills when the charges kick in, which has potential to be unfair and does not provide peace of mind.
More Info on New Naas School
A few posts back, I outlined that a new school had been agreed for Naas and that work had recently commenced, at a Craddockstown location, opposite the nursing home on the Craddockstown road. A number of people had queries about this, so here are further details of the plan:
- The school being built at Craddockstown road is to primary school specification.
- The school will temporarily open as a Secondary School in September 2014.
- It will begin enrolment one year at a time ; only first years will start in 2014.
- A site for a secondary school at Millennium Park is being sourced in parallel.
- Millennium Park is intended as the long term home of the new secondary school.
- Once Millennium Park site is operational the secondary school will move there.
- The Craddockstown site will then begin functioning as a regular primary school.
- Campus will include turn-around and drop-off facilities for traffic management.
- A new footpath and pedestrian crossing will be added along the road outside.
This all makes a lot of sense as the new school buildings will carry on, once the secondary moves across to Millennium Park, a new primary will function at Craddockstown instead.
You can apply to enrol for September 2014 already. You can do this by:
- Downloading this form.
- By calling into the VEC offices at Floor 5, Áras Chill Dara, Devoy Park, Naas.
- By phoning (045) 988000 and requesting an application form.
My Submission re New Waste Application at Kerdiffstown
As per previous posts, the closing date for submissions on the proposed new waste facility at Kerdiffstown is this Friday. I would encourage all interested parties to make a submission (there is no charge to do so) and they can be sent via a simple email to the council environmental section at environ@kildarecoco.ie. I include my own submission below:
22nd January 2014
Dear Sir / Madam,
I would like to make the following comments on the waste permit application for Kerdiffstown.The area including site environs has an exceptionally poor history of waste management and enforcement actions. Given the previous history and local sensitivities it is of further concern that the current applicant has not attempted to engage with the local community or to assuage local fears. A reactive and somewhat belligerent interview on local radio by the permit author appears to have been the only communication with the local populace.