Kildare Nationalist — Newbridge residents to hold protest march against modular homes for Ukrainians | Kildare Nationalist

2022-09-03 03:12:36 By : Mr. Fred Chen

The basketball court where the department plans to build the modular homes

By Finian Coghlan FOLLOWING a heated public meeting last week a further protest march against the imposition of Ukrainian refugees in modular homes in Newbridge is to take place this Saturday (3 September) between McLoughlin’s Garage and Minister of State Martin Heydon’s office in the town. “There was a lot of anger, but a lot of reasonable people spoke,” said Cllr Noel Heavey about the meeting of the concerned residents of three estates in Newbridge, Lakeside Park, Highfield, and Dara Park (LHD) on Thursday evening (25 August). “I was booed, and the microphone was taken off me, but it was a genuine meeting of the community,” he confirmed yesterday (29 August). “Decisions about their community had been made without them being informed,” said Cllr Heavey, of the plan by Kildare Co Council to put 30 modular homes on a play area known locally as The Tar at this location. “The issues people brought up should be provided for – GPs, school spaces, people up here are in a place where sometimes they flush their toilet and it doesn’t go away,” said Cllr Heavey. “There has to be some engagement – this is not just NIMBYism,” he added, referring to the acronym Not In My Back Yard, a term used to describe local protesters. “There is anger there but seemingly it is a done deal,” he said. “I’m sympathetic with people making a genuine effort to improve their estate, ,” said Cllr Heavey. He said there were a lot of local people who have worked to beautify their place, and they’ve not been informed of the plans to build modular homes for the refugees. “People are saying hold on! There’s no school places in Newbridge, and no bus services to Naas where there are places,” he stated. “I was the only representative there, and people didn’t want to hear what I said, but at the end there was consent,” he said. “A good airing of a wide expanse of views,” was how he described the meeting. “A committee has been formed, and has already met,” said Cllr Heavey. This was confirmed by Noreen O’Shea of the LHD Action Group, who have already written a letter to Minister Roderic O’Gorman informing him of the residents’ concerns. “We were all extremely shocked to learn that your department, Kildare Co Council and the OPW have planned to erect 30 modular homes on our green area without so much as notifying the residents,” the letter asserts. “There is anger at secrecy and complete non engagement [because] under the Aarhus convention, members of the public are entitled to take part in making decisions where there may be an environmental impact, [and] the residents of LHD were not afforded that opportunity,” it continued. “Residents are very unhappy and planning to block access to construction of modular homes, [and while] we sympathise with the Ukrainian refugee’s plight, we vehemently object to our green area being used as the site for these modular homes on the grounds of unsuitability,” it said. The letter lists nine objections to the decision, from the lack of consultation, to their overstretched sewerage system, as well as the loss of amenity and access.

The protest march starts at 1pm.