Newtown Glen, Tramore

Dear resident,

Just a quick update following on from the Residents Association AGM which was held on Friday the 29th September in Croke’s pub.

Firstly we would like to thank those who turned up on the night and it was great to see an increase in attendees. The feedback and contribution was hugely significant and we would like to welcome Steven Clancy and Brian Kelly to the committee.

So on to the main points of the night:

Everybody was in agreement that the entrance to the estate was an eyesore and was not in keeping with the scenic area we are lucky to reside in.

One of the attendees on the night was able to help in reducing the cost of transport of topsoil to our estate. This topsoil provided by McDonald’s will go along way in assisting with the landscaping of the entrance.

It was agreed to ask two other suppliers to tender for the landscaping to the entrance as the current landscaper cannot commit currently to a timescale.

The committee members outlined the reason for the increase of the maintenance fee! The current yearly fee of €2,500 caters for 25 cuts per year, edging of footpaths once a year, weed spraying and removal of grass.

This charge is due to increase this year and we also need to factor in the additional costs of the additional work required for landscaping such as tree pruning, perimeter hedging etc.

The current maintenance fee barely covers the existing work and this is also supplemented by the council grant which is not guaranteed. Last years the council grant was €500. This year the grant is €450 and next year it could be even less. Without the additional increase, we cannot cover the estate’s insurance costs, carry out any upgrade & enhancements around the estate such as the entrance, flower beds, trees, hedging etc.

The suggestion of different payment options such as monthly direct debit was suggested by one of the attendees. For this year’s payment we cannot provide this facility but we will investigate the possibility for future years. One of the issues is the cost incurred through banking charges and this is one of the main reasons we choose to use the credit union for banking in the first place.

Having spoken on all of the issues a vote was taken and attendees voted for the increase to €100 to cover the 18 month period to December 2018 and €100 per the calendar year from January 2019 onwards.

It was mentioned that we all choose to live in a particularly beautiful area of Tramore and it’s up to all residents to decide whether they also want to live in a beautiful well-maintained estate. We have spent years with an entrance that looked like an abandoned and unfinished estate, flower beds overgrown and black ground matting uncovered, trees un-pruned and dying, hedging overgrown and whether we like it or not we as residents are responsible for this!

A number of safety concerns were raised by attendees at the meeting such as speed of cars travelling in the estate, cars parking on the left-hand side of entrance obscuring the view for cars exiting the estate and condition of the road outside the estate and the outer ditch.

Two attendees at the meeting who have some contact with the council put themselves forward to highlight these safety concerns with the council directly.

A number of attendees suggested installing some speed ramps around the estate to reduce speeding, however, having discussed this at committee level it was felt that signage improvement would be the way to go instead. You will have noticed some additional signs around the estate recently and we will actively engage with the council for additional improvements on your behalf.

Another attendee suggested a road safety morning some Saturday for the children in the estate. An attendee put themselves forward to contact the local Garda community liaison with regard to organising such an event. We are delighted to announce that this will take place and the committee has organised for a member of the An Garda Siochana (Garda Aine Mullins) to provide a “road safety” talk to all children of the estate this Saturday 14^th October at 2.oo p.m. at the main green. Kids Hi-Viz Vests and goodies will be provided so we would encourage you to ask your kids to attend.

A number of attendees inquired about the possibility of maybe setting up a Facebook page for the estate. One of the attendees put himself forward to look into creating a Facebook page to inform residents of estate news and this is now up and running. Check out Newtown Glen Residents Association under Facebook Groups.

An attendee inquired about liaising with other resident committee’s to learn from each other. Everybody thought this was a good idea and we hope to make some contact in the future.

Crime was also discussed and a leaflet on crime prevention was circulated with the latest mailshot to residents.

Thank you for your continuing support.If you need to get in touch with the committee then please use the Contact page.

Newtown Glen Residents Association.