‘FORGOTTEN JOHNSTOWN’ MAY STILL HAVE TO WAIT FOR LONG PROMISED COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE' - Cllr Emer Tóibín
Decades on from the construction of the first house in Johnstown, Navan, the 12,000-strong community of Johnstown continues to be completely overlooked by Meath County Council, and one elected Public Representative fears that any delivery of much needed infrastructure and community amenities is still years away.
Aontú Cllr Emer Tóibín says
“Johnstown is an area of 12,000 people, 1km outside the town of Navan with NO community amenities. It’s a town in its own right. Meath county Council doesn’t seem to think that it has any duty whatsoever to the population who live there; it approved permission for thousands of much needed houses to be built there but has delivered zero community infrastructure”.
“We have seen several false dawns over the last number of years, but I am desperately concerned now that even more delays may be in the offing, with unprecedented delays regarding the transfer of land from the developer to Meath County Council.”
“The council says this transfer is imminent, but it has said this on numerous times before over the last 3 years, so I won’t hold my breath”.
“Separately, a planning application for a housing development in Farganstown was submitted in June of this year. This application includes, as part of the proposed development, the provision of a creche, community centre and sports hall sports hall, ancillary changing rooms, community rooms and ancillary administration/office space rooms. Further information has been requested of the applicant by the Council so now that decision date will be pushed out into the future by some months.”
“The Council is now considering what to do at both the four-acre site at Dunville and the one at Farganstown site in terms of community amenities for both areas”?
“This raises many questions for me. Will it be a joint project? Will this add further delay to rollout of community amenities in Johnstown? The Council is also considering the longer-term operating model for facilities at both locations in terms of their management, the anticipated operating, maintenance, and insurance costs”.
“However, we're at a standstill until the two matters of the transfer of land and planning at Farganstown are resolved. The development of facilities at Dunville has yet to undergo detailed design and secure approval from the Council under the Part VIII planning process”.
“I welcome all this development and the construction of new homes; however, I have to seriously question the logic of linking plans for the provision of amenities in Johnstown with a very large-scale project which is only at planning application stage. Would there not be a more timely delivery to Johnstown if Johnstown was considered as a standalone project?”
“Johnstown is still growing; development is still happening and there are still no basic facilities and services in the community. To say that’s not good enough is an understatement”.
